TLU Baseball Completes Sweep of Austin College with Run-Rule Victories

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran launched three home runs on the day and completed the run-rule sweep of Austin College with an eight inning 11-1 win and eight inning 15-5 win on Saturday at Katt-Isbel Field. The run-rule sweep is the first occurrence for the Bulldogs since joining the SCAC.

In game one, Randy Huerta (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) went 3-for-4 with two home runs, scoring three runs as well. Over the course of the five-game week, Huerta hit .353 with two homers, three RBI, two stolen bases and eight runs scored.

Diego Vinton (Richmond/George Ranch) started and pitched five innings, allowing one run on five hits. He struck out five batters and issued two walks.

Brendan Beard (Coldspring/Coldspring-Oakhurst) pitched three scoreless innings out of the bullpen to earn the save, his second of the season. He didn't allow a hit and only issued one walk in his three innings while striking out five batters.

The two teams traded runs early with Niko Garcia (Houston/Langham Creek) driving in Aric Vasquez (San Antonio/Brandeis) with an RBI single before Austin College would respond with a run of their own in the third.

A bases loaded hit by pitch to Alec Sanchez (Waxahachie/Waxahachie) gave TLU a 2-1 lead in the third.

Randy Huerta would hit his first of two solo home runs in the fourth and Holden Philippus (San Antonio/San Antonio Christian) would tack on an RBI single to give TLU a 4-1 lead.

Huerta would leave the ballpark for the second time in his next at-bat, his second solo shot of the day, to lead off the sixth.

The Bulldogs put together a four-run seventh inning to extend their lead to 9-1. Asher Bonnell (Round Rock/Stony Point), Huerta, Blake Cappadona (Mont Belvieu/Barbers Hill), and Philippus would all drive in runs.

After back-to-back walks to begin the eighth, Payton Dahl (Round Rock/Stony Point) hit an RBI double down the left field line to score Coker Novosad-Wagner (San Antonio/St. Mary's Hall). Carson Draehn (Brenham/Brenham) would hit a pinch-run RBI single to walk it off for the 11-1 run-rule victory in game one.

Tyler Post (San Antonio/Johnson) finished 2-for-4 wit a homer, three RBI, and two runs scored. Aric Vasquez went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI, and a run scored while Asher Bonnell finished 2-for-4 with two RBI, two stolen bases, and a team-high three runs scored.

Blake Cappadona, who started the game as the Bulldogs' designated hitter, earned the win in relief - striking out six of his eight batters faced while not allowing a run in 2.1 innings pitched. The Bulldogs pitching staff comprised of Keene Kreusler (New Braunfels/New Braunfels), Cappadona, Riley Backs (Cypress/Cypress Falls), and Zach Longshore (Richmond/Ft. Bend Travis) combined to strike out 17 batters on the evening - matching a season-high for TLU.

Austin College opened game two with a run in the top of the first - taking advantage of fielding errors from the TLU defense.

Texas Lutheran then scored two runs in the bottom of the first on a Tyler Post two-run home run to take a 2-1 lead. The home run was Post's SCAC-leading ninth of the season and tied him with TLU Hall of Famer John Krog (2002-05) with his 31st career home run. Texas Lutheran leads the SCAC with 23 home runs on the season.

After a solo home run from Austin College in the top of the second, the Bulldogs scored three more runs in the second inning on an RBI single from Bonnell and a two-RBI single from Cappadona to make the score 5-2.

Austin College tied the game 5-5 after a bases clearing double down the left field line in the top of the third.

TLU got the runs back and then some in fourth with Randy Huerta scoring on an Austin College throwing error ahead of a two-RBI double from Aric Vasquez and an RBI single from Tyler Post to make the score 9-5.

Bonnell drove in another run in the fifth inning to make the score 10-5. Blade Strzelczyk (San Antonio/East Central) would hit a pinch-hit RBI triple to score Bonnell and give the Bulldogs an 11-5 lead through five.

After going dormant for a few innings, the Bulldogs finished off the game with four more runs in the eighth with a Niko Garcia RBI single, a two-RBI single from Payton Dahl, and a sacrifice fly by Kyle Gates (La Vernia/La Vernia) to walk it off and bring the game to an end with a 15-5 score.

The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs will travel to Irving, Texas, to continue SCAC play on Saturday against Dallas. First pitch is scheduled for 12 PM for the first game of a Saturday doubleheader on April 22. All streaming and live stats links will be available 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 Facebook, and @tlu_athletics on Instagram and TikTok).