Texas Lutheran Splits Opening Day Doubleheader Against Pacific

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran earned a split of their Opening Day home doubleheader against 2022 NCAA Tournament qualifier Pacific University Saturday at Katt-Isbel Field - winning Game One, 10-7, before dropping Game Two, 4-2.

In Game One, a five-run seventh inning and six total runs in their final two innings at the plate gave way to a late game rally for TLU as the Bulldogs earned their first victory of the 2023 season.

A second inning Boxers solo home run gave Pacific an early 1-0 lead. TLU would respond with four runs in the fourth inning with Holden Philippus (San Antonio/San Antonio Christian) scoring on a Tyler Post (San Antonio/Johnson) groudout, Niko Garcia (Houston/Langham Creek) drawing a bases loaded walk to score another Bulldog run, and a two RBI single from Payton Dahl (Round Rock/Cedar Ridge) giving TLU a 4-1 lead.

Pacific would score five runs across the sixth and seventh innings to take a 6-4 lead entering the bottom of the seventh. An RBI single from Alec Sanchez (Waxahachie/Waxahachie) jump started a Bulldogs rally as Texas Lutheran scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh. Tyler Post would double down the left field line to drive in two before scoring himself on a Pacific throwing error. Niko Garcia drove in his second run of the afternoon on an RBI single up the middle to score Aric Vasquez (San Antonio/Brandeis) as TLU took a 9-6 lead into the eighth. Alec Sanchez would drive in his third run of the game to tack on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. The Boxers would score one more run, but Blade Strzelczyk (San Antonio/East Central) would come in in relief in the ninth inning - striking out two of the three batters he faced to pick up his first save of the season and the 14th of his career.

With 14 career saves, is now eight saves shy of the Texas Lutheran career saves mark held by Sean Kistler (22, 2010-13) and three shy of the SCAC record for career saves held by Brad Henry of Hendrix College (17, 2000-03).

AJ Briscoe (Blanco/Blanco) picked up the win in relief for Texas Lutheran. Joe Burch (Geronimo/Navarro) was tabbed with the Opening Day start - allowing one run on two hits and striking out six batters in four innings of work. As a staff, Texas Lutheran struck out 17 batters in 2023's opening game. 

In Game Two, Texas Lutheran scored two runs in the first inning but would ultimately fall 4-2 as the Boxers scored runs in the third, fourth, sixth, and seventh for the come from behind victory. Texas Lutheran struck first with Tyler Post driving in two on an RBI single for his fourth and fifth RBI of the day.

JT Taylor (Houston/Fort Bend Christian) got the start on the mound for the Bulldogs and would allow two runs on six hits over three and two-thirds innings of work. With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth inning, Diego Vinton (Richmond/George Ranch) would relieve Taylor and immediately work out of the jam, but would pick up the losing decision, allowing one run on two hits in two and one-third innings of work. Keene Kreusler (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) struck out five of his six batters faced in relief Saturday night.

Up next, Texas Lutheran and Pacific will meet in the final game of their three game series on Sunday at 11 AM. All streaming and stat 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 Twitter, @tlubulldogs on Instagram and Facebook, and @tlu_athletics on TikTok).