ITLU baseball sweeps St. Thomas in conference series
-Tim Clark, TLU Sports Information
(Seguin) – Texas Lutherans swept a three-game Southern Collegiate Athetlic Conference baseball series against St. Thomas last week by finals of 7-4 on Thursday, 10-0 in Friday’s early game, and 7-4 in Friday’s finale.
TLU is now 13-7 overall and 6-0 in the SCAC. St. Thomas fell to 12-8 overall and to 1-7 in the SCAC.
TLU reliever Brendan Beard pitched the Bulldogs out of a bases-loaded, no outs jam in the eighth inning. The 6-foot-6 sophomore right-hander struck out the first batter he faced, then recorded an out on a sacrifice fly, and ended the inning by snagging a line drive for the third out.
Beard stayed in the game for the ninth and worked a perfect inning, striking out a pair of batters and getting the final out on a ground ball to third.
Beard earned his second save of the 2021 season.
Landon Weatherly (2-1) registered the pitching win with six innings of solid work against the Celts. Weatherly pitched six shutout innings before departing in the seventh. He struck out seven and allowed three earned runs.
Cole Irby collected three more hits, raising his average to .446. Irby drove in a pair of runs.
Caleb Maly, Cullen Motsinger, and Collin Docker each had two hits. Austin Colon was 1-for-2 with a run scored and two RBIs.
Bulldog right-hander Joe Burch tossed a complete-game four-hitter in Friday’s early game. The game ended in the seventh via the 10-run rule.
Burch struck out eight and worked around two walks. He improved to 3-1.
Caleb Maly and Austin Colon each drove in three in the early game. Maly was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk. Colon was 1-for-3 with a two-run double and an RBI sacrifice bunt.
Tyler Cauley homered in the first game Friday. The blast to left-center field was the 33rd of his Bulldog career and moved him into a second-place tie on the TLU career home run list.
Cauley tied TLU Hall of Famer Aaron Crais for second on the homer list. Aaron Merhoff remains the TLU home run king, with 51.
Cauley is seven RBIs from tying Crais for second on the career RBI list. Crais finished his four-year career with 179. Cauley has 172. Merhoff is the school record-holder with 214.
Cauley also walked three times in the early game and moved past Dave Szymanski for third on the TLU career walks list. Cauley now has 101 career walks. Chris McBee and Larry Lawrence are one-two at TLU for walks. McBee finished with 123. Lawrence had 122.
In the late game, Cole Irby registered four hits in five at-bats. He scored twice and drove in a run. Cauley had two hits, including a triple, and an RBI, and Tyler Post belted a double and recorded two RBIs.
JT Taylor started for TLU and went four innings, striking out two and walking two.
Chase Cutler pitched the next 4-1/3 and picked up the win. He struck out five and walked one.
Nolan Tenpas recorded the last two outs to collect the save.
TLU hits the road Tuesday for a 6:30 p.m. non-conference game with regional rival Concordia Texas. The game will be played at Concordia’s Tornado Field. Visiting spectators are allowed at Tornado Field as long as they are masked and practice social-distancing.
No. 3 TLU softball sweeps Schreiner, pushes winning streak to 12 games
-Tim Clark, TLU Sports Information
(Seguin) – Texas Lutheran softball owns a 12-game winning streak after posting four wins over Schreiner last week at Ed Kruse Stadium/ Morck Softball Field. The Bulldogs swept Thursday’s doubleheader 3-1 and 4-3, and followed with 8-0 and 11-1 wins on Friday.
The Thursday games and the first contest on Friday were Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference games. The second game on Friday was a non-conference affair.
TLU is now 20-4 overall and 11-0 in the SCAC. Schreiner is 7-19 and 2-7 in the SCAC.
The Bulldogs have won 12 straight.
In Thursday’s early game, Kelly Jurden had a run scored, an RBI, and a stolen base, and Skylar Ouellette belted a solo home run.
Rebecca Snow was 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk.
Sydney Ouellette appeared in relief in the third inning and pitched the final five innings of the game. She struck out three, scattered three hits and did not walk a batter.
Ouellette improved to 8-2 on the year.
In game two, Ouellette notched the save, her first of the year, with 1-2/3 innings of relief.
Chassety Raines picked up the win with 5-1/3 innings of work. She struck out three, walked one, and allowed two earned runs. She moved to 3-0.
Snow drove in a pair in the late game – with two sacrifice flies.
Jurden scored twice and had two stolen bases and a hit.
Skylar Ouellette and Haley Padilla each had an RBI in the second-game victory.
In the early game Friday, Sydney Ouellette tossed a one-hitter. Ouellette struck out one, hit one, and did not walk a batter. She improved to 9-2 overall.
Sarah Metzer hit a two-run home run in the Bulldogs’ four-run third inning.
Kelly Jurden scored a pair of runs in the first game to tie the SCAC record for career runs scored, at 151.
Jurden broke the SCAC record in the second game with a run in the first inning. She added to the record with a run in the fourth. Jurden now has 153 runs scored in 133 career games at TLU.
Haley Padilla also etched her name in a record book – the TLU Softball Record Book. She passed former Bulldog Heather Hummel for the TLU career home runs record. Padilla belted her 17th career home run, a solo shot in the fourth inning.
The Bulldogs scored eight times in that fourth inning.
Skylar Ouellette and Padilla each had three RBIs in the win, and Jurden, Casey Martin, and McKay Bloxham each scored two runs.
Chassety Raines collected the pitching win with four shutout innings. She moved to 4-0.
TLU’s next action is next weekend with a Friday-Saturday three-game series against the University of Dallas. The series will have a 7 p.m. single-game Friday and a noon doubleheader Saturday. All games will be played at Ed Kruse Stadium (Morck Softball Field).