TLU Completes Sweep of RPI with 9-4 Victory

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran completed the sweep of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Thursday night with a 9-4 victory over the Engineers at Katt-Isbel Field.

The Bulldogs (11-6) extended their winning streak to six-straight games and improved to 9-1 at Katt-Isbel Field. The originally scheduled fourth game has been cancelled but the Bulldogs will continue their home stand next Friday, March 15, with their SCAC opener against St. Thomas at 6 PM. All games will be streamed on TLU's YouTube Channel, TLU+. All streaming and live stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.

Adam Peavy (Houston/Memorial) went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI, while Tyler Post (San Antonio/Johnson) finished 1-for-3 with three walks and three runs scored.

Johnny Garza Jr. (San Antonio/McCollum) held the Engineers without a hit for the first 3.1 innings before the Engineers were able to get to him in the fourth and sixth. Garza Jr. finished with six innings pitched and two runs allowed (one earned) on two hits and seven walks. He struck out five and picked up his second win of the season.

Brendan Beard (Coldspring/Coldspring-Oakhurst), in his first relief appearance of 2024, was dominant out of the bullpen throwing 25 strikes on 27 pitches to strike out six batters in 2.1 innings of work. He did not allow any hits and the only base runner allowed followed a passed ball on a strikeout.

Carson Draehn (Brenham/Brenham) continued to swing a hot bat, getting the scoring started in the first inning with an RBI single to get the Bulldogs on the board. 

Texas Lutheran added three runs to their lead in the third inning. Adam Peavy, who entered Thursday fifth in all of NCAA Division-III in sacrifice flies, hit a sacrifice fly to score Tyler Post and double the Bulldogs lead. Aric Vasquez (San Antonio/Brandeis) - who set up the sacrifice fly with a one out double - scored on an RPI throwing error. Chase Bourgeois (League City/Clear Falls) would cap the scoring in the inning with an RBI single to score Carson Draehn and make the game 4-0.

RPI scored a run in the top of the fourth to cut into the Bulldogs lead. Ryan Botello (Edinburg/Robert Vela), who made his first collegiate start on Thursday, got the run back in the bottom half of the inning, scoring on a wild pitch.

The Bulldogs would score two more runs on a wild pitch in the fifth inning to extend their lead to 7-1.

An RPI sacrifice fly cut the TLU lead to 7-2 in the sixth, before a two-RBI single from Peavy in the bottom of the inning pushed the Bulldogs lead to 9-2.

The Engineers came back and scored two more runs in the top of the seventh to trim the Bulldogs' lead down to 9-4 before Beard would take the mound and silence the RPI offense.

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).