-Tim Clark, TLU Sports Information
(Cleburne) – In one of the wildest games in Texas Lutheran Baseball history and in the highest-scoring Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship game ever, the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs rallied from a 14-9 deficit in the eighth inning and won 16-15 in 10 innings over the second-ranked Trinity Tigers.
Sunday at The Depot at Cleburne Station, TLU rebounded from a 9-8 loss to Trinity in the early game and survived the “if necessary” game to secure TLU’s second SCAC Championship and advance to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship for the third consecutive season (2018, 2019, and 2021). It will be TLU’s seventh total appearance in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.
“Every time we play Trinity it is like a heavyweight prize fight,” said Rick Heines, TLU’s first-year head coach. “Somebody gets knocked in the ropes. They come off the ropes. It’s like watching ‘Rocky.'”
“We were actually talking about that before today not even knowing what today would present. But it just always seems that way. It’s an unbelievable matchup. It is a tremendous thing. We love playing them, and I think they like playing us. It’s always a great matchup. Obviously we were able to come out on top in an unbelievable game.”
Blade Strzelczyk, the junior utility player turned closer, worked a scoreless 10th inning, getting Ezra Gore to line out to right field to senior outfielder Tyler Cauley for the final out. Strzelczyk (1-0) pitched the final two innings for TLU.
The Bulldogs scored six runs in the eighth inning to take a 15-14 lead in the eighth. Cauley homered in the eighth, a two-run shot, and Tyler Post homered two batters later for another two-run shot. Suddenly, TLU was within 14-13.
Cauley’s home run was the 41st of his career, which put him into second-place all-time in SCAC Baseball history. His 198 RBIs now rank fifth in the SCAC all-time.
The Bulldogs’ eighth inning continued with a Caleb Maly two-run single to deep second base that scored Alex Cornman and Randy Huerta with two outs.
Trinity countered with an unearned run on an error in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings.
In the Bulldogs’ 10th, Cornman reached on a fielder’s choice and came around to score on a Trinity throwing error.
The two teams combined for 31 runs and 39 hits. The Bulldogs and Tigers combined for 48 runs and 61 hits in the two Sunday games combined.
In the clincher, Maly went 4-for-6 with four RBI and two runs scored. Cauley was 3-for-6 with two runs scored and two RBI.
Cullen Motsinger, who took a trip to the hospital after an arm injury after sliding into third base for a three-run triple in the third inning of the first game, returned to the stadium and started the second game. He produced four hits, two RBI, and a run scored after the injury.
Post drove in three runs and had a run scored, and Joe Jimenez went 2-for-6 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Maly, Motsinger, and Cauley combined for 11 hits.
Jimenez, third baseman Randy Huerta, Cauley, Motsinger, Strzelczyk, and reliever Brendan Beard were named to the SCAC All-Tournament Team.
In the “if necessary” game, Trinity took a 3-0 lead in the first. Jack Wisnieski singled to right field to bring home two. The first three Tiger hitters of the game singled to the outfield. Mason Meredith then hit a two-out double to bring home MJ Metz. The Tigers collect six hits in the first inning.
The Bulldogs came back with five runs in the third with a Motsinger two-RBI single, a steal of home by Maly, a Jimenez RBI single, and a Post RBI single.
In the early game, Trinity jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first inning. MJ Metz, Tyler Pettit and Jack Vonderhaar each drove in runs before Michael Goodrich hit a three-run home run to center field.
TLU got on the scoreboard in the second inning with a two-run home run from Randy Huerta. The home run was his ninth of the season.
After Collin Docker drove in a run with a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded, Cullen Motsinger tripled down the right-field line to score three.
Motsinger was injured on the play as he slid into third base. He left the game and did not return to action. He did return to the dugout with his left arm heavily bandaged.
The Bulldogs closed within 9-7 on a Caleb Maly sacrifice fly. The fly ball to center scored Huerta.
Huerta drove in his third run of the day in the sixth with a single up the middle to score Joe Jimenez. That single made the Trinity lead just one, at 9-8.
Trinity’s Jack Schmitt kept the Tigers in the lead with 3-1/3 innings of scoreless relief to close out the game. He allowed just one hit and picked up his second save of the year.
Cam Sheets notched the victory with three innings of work. He allowed just two earned runs.