#RV TLU Baseball Blasts Sul Ross, 8-1, on Opening Day

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran Baseball, who is receiving votes in the D3baseball.com Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll, blew by Sul Ross State on Opening Day, beating the Lobos 8-1 Friday night at Katt-Isbel Field. The win marks the first under first-year head coach and TLU Baseball alum, Kyle Palmer '09.

Diego Vinton (Richmond/George Ranch) gave the Bulldogs a quality start, pitching six innings with two strikeouts. He allowed only one unearned run on three hits and one walk in the game.

Nolan McInvale (Poth/Poth) pitched 1.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen and Johnny Garza Jr. (San Antonio/McCollum) finished off the game in the final 1.1 innings.

Adam Peavy (Houston/Memorial) went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run, the first of his career. R.J. Carrillo (Alice/Alice) finished 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and one run driven in. Asher Bonnell (Round Rock/Stony Point) finished 2-for-5 with a double, a run scored and a run driven in.

The Bulldogs, who were held without a hit through 5.2 innings, fell behind 1-0 after allowing an unearned run in the fourth inning following a TLU fielding error.

The Bulldogs offense came alive in the sixth inning after a one out walk to Tyler Post (San Antonio/Johnson) and a failed pick off attempt moved him to third, Chase Bourgeois (League City/Clear Falls) recorded the first hit of the TLU baseball season with an infield single to the shortstop to tie the game, 1-1. That was all it took to get the TLU offense rolling as R.J. Carrillo and Xavier Arias (La Vernia/Nixon-Smiley) followed with RBI singles of their own as TLU took a 4-1 lead into the sixth inning.

TLU scored three more runs in the seventh courtesy of a sacrifice fly from Post and Peavy's two-run home run.

The Bulldogs tacked on another run in the eighth inning to go up 8-1 when Asher Bonnell hit a two-out single to right center field to drive in Carrillo.

Texas Lutheran and Sul Ross State will square off in Game 2 of the three-game series on Saturday, Feb. 3, at 12 PM at Katt-Isbel Field. All games this weekend will be streamed on TLU's YouTube Channel, TLU+. All streaming and live stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.

For more information on Texas Lutheran baseball and all TLU athletics, you can find updates on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics and @TLU_Baseball on X (Twitter), @tlubulldogs on Facebook, and @tlu_athletics on Instagram and TikTok).