WEST FIELD, Ind. --- The Trinity International University baseball team kicked off the 2020 portion of their schedule on Monday afternoon as they battled the Marian University Knights in central Indiana. After a solid 4-2 start to the season during game in the fall, the Trojans looked to continue their excellent play as the spring approaches.

Mitchell Apple got the start for TIU on the mound, pitching four full innings for the Trojans. After pitching three innings of one hit ball, Marian's Caiden Jones' single to center field knocked in the first run of the game, scoring Christian Lopez from third base.

TIU responded in the top of the fourth with back-to-back walks by Emmanuel Andujar abd Matt Pierson. After a pair of outs and a Julius Torres walk, the Trojans scored their first run of the day when  Sam Willis was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to knot the contest up at one run a piece.

The Knights opened up the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff double by Evan Hickman, who was quickly brought home on a Caleb Meyers RBI single. Despite a double by Michael Luker in the top of the fifth, the Trojans subsequently popped out to left field, grounded out to second, and grounded out to third to neutralize any chance of tying the game.

Marian added another run on an infield error in the fifth, and another two runs on a two-run home run by Sean Dieppa, extending the Knight's lead to 5-1. The Trojans would only be able to garner three more hits the rest of the game before Marian added two additional runs in the eighth inning en route to a 7-1 loss.

Apple would take the loss after giving up two earned runs of seven hits in four innings of work, dropping his season record to 0-2. Pierson and Luker led the Trojans with two hits each, Pierson batting 2-4 as the designated hitter, and Luker 2-3 at catcher.

The Trojans return to the diamond on February 14 and 15 as they travel to Mississippi to take on the Blue Mountain College Toppers in a pair of doubleheaders.

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.