Bryce Hayes
SEGUIN, Texas — Texas Lutheran Baseball picked up its first walk-off win of the season, beating Southwestern 6-5, to complete the sweep of the Pirates and clinch the 2023 SCAC Regular Season Championship on Sunday at Katt-Isbel Field.
The win, in addition to a 5-3 loss by Trinity to St. Thomas in Houston, clinched the SCAC regular season title for the first time in program history for Texas Lutheran (27-13, 17-4 SCAC). The 2023 Championship marks the fourth regular season championship and sixth SCAC Championship overall. Also with the win, TLU matched its best single-season conference winning percentage since joining the SCAC, going 17-4 (.810) for the second consecutive season.
The Bulldogs went into the bottom of the ninth tied when Alec Sanchez (Waxahachie/Waxahachie) stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and one out and hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to score Aric Vasquez (San Antonio/Brandeis).
Zach Longshore (Richmond/Ft. Bend Travis) picked up the win in relief, improving to 6-2 on the season, after pitching 3.1 innings and allowing one run and striking out four batters.
Tyler Post (San Antonio/Johnson) and Alec Sanchez both went 2-for-4 at the plate, with Post hitting a home run for the second day in a row and driving in three runs and Sanchez hitting two singles and the walk-off sacrifice fly.
After being held scoreless and trailing 2-0 through five innings, Texas Lutheran exploded for six runs in the final four innings, while allowing just one Southwestern run after the fourth inning.
For the second game in a row, Tyler Post hit a home run, igniting the Bulldogs rally with a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the Pirates lead in half. With the home run, Post moves into sole possession of third place on the TLU Baseball all-time home run list with 34 career home runs, trailing former teammate Tyler Cauley (2017-2021, 41) by seven for second place. Niko Garcia (Houston/Langham Creek) would walk the next at-bat and work his way around to score on a wild pitch as TLU cut the lead to 4-3 in the sixth inning.
Post would tie the game 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single down the right field line to score Blake Cappadona (Mont Belvieu/Barbers Hill). An RBI single from Garcia would score Holden Philippus (San Antonio/San Antonio Christian) and give TLU its first lead of the afternoon at 5-4.
The Pirates knotted the game up 5-5 in the top of the ninth. Three walks loaded the bases and set the stage for senior Alec Sanchez to walk it off for TLU in dramatic fashion to clinch the sweep, the fifth of the season.
Prior to Sunday’s game, Texas Lutheran honored former Texas Lutheran baseball player Mark Love and announced the second annual “Mark Love Award” winner – awarded to the player who demonstrates team leadership, charm, resilience and dependability – with the honors going to senior Kai Hendershot (San Antonio/Johnson).
Texas Lutheran gears up for the 2023 SCAC Tournament where they will have a rematch with Southwestern at 1 PM on Friday, May 5, at The Depot at Cleburne Station in Cleburne, Texas. Tickets for the tournament are available for purchase by clicking here. All streaming and live stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.
For more information on Texas Lutheran baseball and all TLU athletics, you can find updates on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics and @TLU_Baseball on Twitter, @tlubulldogs on Facebook, and @tlu_athletics on Instagram and TikTok).