BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. --- The Trinity International University baseball team opened up a four-game weekend series on Friday and Saturday in Mississippi as they took on the Toppers of Blue Mountain College. After dropping their last game at Marian earlier in the month, the Trojans looked to pick up a set of wins in their first series of games since fall play.
In the opening game of the series, Adrian Rapier got the start for TIU, pitching the first five innings. After giving up four earned runs, four walks, and four hits, the Trojans got on the board with their first run of the day, after Julius Torres led off the sixth inning with a single to right field, and later scored on a batted ball. In the seventh, Sam Willis reached base after a bobbled ball by BMC's second baseman, and crossed home plate after another battled ball by the Topper defense. Torres struck out swinging to end the game as TIU dropped the opener 4-2.
In the second game of the Friday doubleheader, Jio Ledesma earned the start, pitching four and a third innings. After a pair of runs were scored in the first two innings by Blue Mountain College, the Trojans tied the game in the third, with Andrew Johnson and Sam Willis crossing home plate. BMC re-captured the lead with a run in the bottom of the third to go up 3-2. Johnson would groundout to third base in the fourth inning to score Jose Matos to even the game at three, however the Toppers would blow the game open with a four run fifth inning to take back momentum. Despite a pair of runs scored by Luis Henriquez and Johnson, TIU would be unable to comeback as they fell by a final score of 7-5.
Mitchell Apple took the mound in Saturday's opening game for the Trojans, opposite BMC's Brandon Maxwell. Apple gave up just two runs over the first four innings, with the TIU offense scoring Emmanual Andujar on a ground ball to second by Jalen Austin in the second, and Jalen Smith in the fourth innings off another Austin RBI. Tied at two entering the bottom of the sixth, the Toppers capitalized on a three-run inning, aided by three Trojan errors as TIU would be unable to overcome their mistakes, dropping the Saturday opener 5-2.
Nick Venegas got the start for the Trojans in their final game, looking to avoid the weekend sweep. TIU got on the board first as Brendan Lacey scored on a Matt Pierson sacrifice fly to center field in the first inning. The Toppers responded in the bottom of the second with a three run frame on just two hits to jump ahead 3-1. In the third, Ian Ryan scored on a Pierson single after reaching base on a walk, and Andujar crossed home plate on a wild pitch from BMC's Eli Jackson. While TIU was able to tie the game, the Toppers responded with another three run inning on a pair of TIU errors in the bottom of the third. Andujar would score his second run of the game on Pierson's second RBI single in the fifth inning, while Pierson would steal home plate to add another Trojan run. The Toppers would add another three runs over the final two innings as they completed the four-game sweep of TIU, winning the final game of the series by a final score of 9-5.
The Trojans return to the diamond on Wednesday, March 4 as they open up a doubleheader with the Florida National University Conquistadors as part of a three-game series in Hialeah, Florida. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00PM (CST).
Trinity International University is a comprehensive, national university affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America and located in Bannockburn, Illinois, 25 miles north of Chicago. TIU educates men and women to engage in God's redemptive work in the world by cultivating academic excellence, Christian faithfulness and lifelong learning.
