ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University Baseball faced its first nationally-ranked opponent of the season and jumped to an early lead, but a late surge by the No. 18 Trinity Tigers resulted in a 13-9 loss for the War Hawks in San Antonio.
McMurry (7-11) scored six runs in the first inning and held that lead through the fifth inning, but Trinity (7-5) stormed back with a five run fourth inning, a two run fifth inning and a one run sixth inning to go up 8-6.
The War Hawks would go on to tie things up again before the seventh inning stretch, but the Tigers pulled away with four runs in the bottom half. McMurry remained in striking distance and tallied a run in the eighth, but missed out on a rally.
Both offenses were working in Tuesday's non-conference showdown, as the two combined for 34 hits. McMurry had 16 of those, but encountered some struggles late into innings with 15 runners left on base – including three innings with the bases left loaded.
Five players had multi-hit games for McMurry, led by sophomore Blake Beach and senior Nick Hamel with three each. Beach had the team's only mutli-base hit with an RBI triple, hitting it in the seventh inning. He later scored on a Reed Hodges RBI single to tie it at 8-8.
Hodges was one of three players with two hit days, joining Javier Rosa and Koy Carpenter with such days. Rosa and Carpenter each drove home a pair of runs – both coming back-to-back in the six run first inning.
The freshman quartet of Dylan Lee, Blaze Rickerson, Xavier Escobar and Dylan Abbott added one hit apiece. Lee also accounted for the team's first run, as he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the first inning. Escobar followed him with an RBI walk to move another one home.
Both team's used a wide array of pitchers, with Trinity throwing eight and McMurry throwing six. The War Hawks were led by starter Kaden Sebastian, who threw 2.0 innings with just one hit allowed. He also struck out four and did not allow a walk. No pitcher for either team went more than 2.0 innings.
McMurry returns to American Southwest Conference play on Friday, March 18 to begin a three-game series at home against East Texas Baptist. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. at Walt Driggers Field. The Tigers are receiving votes in the NCAA Division III national rankings.
