BANNOCKBURN, Ill. --- The TIU baseball team returned home on Thursday afternoon as they took on the Trolls of Trinity Christian College in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) nine inning game. Entering the day following a tough doubleheader with Calumet St. Joseph on Monday, the Trojans were hopeful to bounce back with just five regular season games to go.

Sam Willis would take the mound for the blue and white looking to improve on his 3-3 record as a pitcher. The Trolls pounced on Willis early with a four-run first inning. TIU responded in the second with Noah Waltz scoring Zorion Pullen with an RBI double in the second inning. Luis Henriquez would drive Waltz home on a groundout back to the pitcher to cut the TCC lead in half.

Trinity Christian quickly came back in the third with back-to-back solo home runs, plus RBI's by Gill Loza and Oliver Carmody. Blake Lazaris would get the Trojans back on the board with a deep lead-off home run to center field, followed up by a Julius Torres run scored on a Pullen single to right field to cut the lead to 8-4.

The Trolls would notch five more runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings before TIU would dent the scoreboard again in the seventh. Torres would score on a passed ball, while catcher Andrew Johnson brought Jalen Austin on a double to right. Waltz would score the Trojan's final run on an error by the TCC catcher, inching TIU closer in an ultimate 13-7 loss.

ADDITIONAL SERIES NOTES

• With their loss to Trinity Christian on Thursday, the Trojan falls to 14-35-1 all-time against the Trolls.

• Thursday's loss was TIU's seventh consecutive, their longest losing streak since dropping eight straight from April 17-24, 2018.

• Sam Willis drops to 3-4 on the season with the loss.

• Julius Torres stole four bases, setting two single-game school records, and tied one. Most stolen bases in a home game and most in a loss are both new records, while his four stolen bags tied Steven Collado for most in a game against a CCAC opponent.

• Torres' four stolen bases give him 25 on his career, tying Phillip Sims (2009-10) for fifth most in school history.

• Blake Lazaris' third inning home run was his second of the season, and fourth of his career.

• Noah Waltz's second inning double was his first career double, and first extra base hit of his collegiate career.

• Jalen Austin's double in the fifth inning was his third of the year.

• Andrew Johnson's seventh inning double was his third of the season, and the fourth of his career.

UP NEXT

The Trojans (12-26) return to action tomorrow afternoon as they begin a three-game series with the Lincoln College Lynx, with game one of the series in Lincoln beginning at 3:00pm. Games two and three of the series will be played on Saturday, May 1 at the TIU Baseball Field beginning at 1:00pm on senior day, and can be watched LIVE on the Trojan Sports Network.

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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.