The Trinity Bible College baseball team earned its first victory of the season in a split victory double-header on Tuesday evening. The Lions used the three day trip to play Martin Luther on Monday and then played North Central to finish the road trip.
Trinity 6 vs. North Central University 4
"We talked before the game about what it would take to win," Coach Strong said. "I told them that which ever team was able to remain focused throughout the entire game would have the best chance of winning. I was extremely proud of my guys because we were able to stay focused and make the plays necessary to come through with the victory." Dusty Hess pitched 6 1/3 innings for the win. He gave up four runs on six hits. He also struck out four and walked four. "Dusty did a phenomenal job," Coach Strong said. He kept North Central off-balance the entire game. He pitched well, but it wasn't his best game. He had some location issues, which is very uncommon for Dusty. He kept battling and kept the desire to succeed and was able to put us in a position to win."
Dusty left with the bases loaded with one out and the Lions clinging to a two run lead. Cody Testroet came in to try to get the Lions out of a jam and close out the game. Cody struck out the only two batters he faced to secure the victory. Coach Strong said, "It wasn't an easy situation for Cody to get put into, but he came in throwing heat, which was a perfect compliment to Dusty's off-speed pitches, and got us the victory."
The Lions' bats kept pressure on the North Central defense the entire game by making solid contact. Trinity only struck out 3 times in the game and kept putting the ball in play. The Lions also stole 5 bases in the game.
Trinity 9 vs. North Central University 11
The Lions started very slowly in the second game of the double-header, allowing North Central to build an early lead. But, by scoring 5 runs in the 5th and scoring 4 runs in the 7th, the Lions gave themselves a chance to win. In the 7th, the Lions had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Aaron Nelson delivered a great hit towards 1st base. The 1st baseman made a great play and was able to make the out at 1st to secure the game.
Cody Testroet pitched for the Lions. He pitched 6 2/3 innings and had 6 strike outs. Aaron Nelson struck out the only batter he faced to close down the 7th inning. "Cody threw very well, we just made some untimely errors in this game," Coach Strong said. Coach Strong was very pleased with the bats in the 2nd game and on the day in general. "We kept putting the ball in play. I was very happy with our ability to get quality at-bats that put us in a position to win the game. Aaron almost delivered a game-tying hit, but the kid made a great play." Heston Huwa had 3 stolen bases on the day for the Lions.