Trinity forces winner-take-all game for SCAC Baseball Championship

CLEBURNE, Texas -- The Trinity Tigers forced a winner-take-all game for the 2019 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Championship with a 9-3 victory over Texas Lutheran on Sunday afternoon.

TLU and Trinity now meet (video/live stats here and Seguin radio KWED 1580 AM here) for the SCAC Championship.

First pitch in the second championship game was delivered 4:10 p.m. at The Depot at Cleburne Station.

Each team has one loss (each team losing to the other) in the double-elimination tournament. The winner receives the SCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship. Trinity was the 2016 national champion. TLU was the 2018 national runner-up.

TLU, ranked ninth in NCAA Division III, dropped to 31-11 with the loss. The fourth-ranked Tigers improved to 33-10.

Trinity broke the game open with a five-run second inning.

Tiger shortstop Jack Wisniewski had three hits and drove in three. Logan Morrison went 3-for-6 with a run scored and an RBI.

Trinity designated hitter Brannen Caraway went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI.

Tiger right-hander Arjun Thakar improved to 2-1 with eight innings of work. He allowed three earned runs and nine hits and worked around five walks.

Bulldog senior right-hander Dylan Murrell (Tomball/Memorial) took the loss. Murrell (6-3) went 1-1/3 innings and allowed five earned runs.

Thomas Varner (Austin/Bowie) and Cullen Motsinger (Houston/Cypress Ranch) each drove in a run. Varner had two hits.

Bulldog shortstop Joe Jimenez (San Antonio/Johnson) also had two hits. He scored a run.

TLU, the defending champion of the SCAC, will play in its first "if necessary" game in the SCAC Baseball Championship.

The Bulldogs last played an "if necessary" game for a conference baseball championship in 2006, as a member of the American Southwest Conference. The Bulldogs won that game in Seguin and advanced