Beard, Arias Highlight 5-0 Shutout Win Over Concordia (TX)

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran pitching staff combined for their first shutout of the young 2024 season to lead TLU to a 5-0 victory over Concordia (TX) and day one split at the CTX Classic.

Brendan Beard (Coldspring/Coldspring-Oakhurst) got the start for the Bulldogs striking out a career-high 11 hitters while only allowing two hits and three walks in six shutout innings to earn the win. Nolan McInvale (Poth/Poth) struck out two batters and only allowed one hit in three shutout innings to close the game on the mound for TLU.

Xavier Arias (La Vernia/Nixon-Smiley) continued to swing a hot bat at the plate for TLU. Following a home run in the early game against Hardin-Simmons, Arias followed that up by finishing a double shy of hitting for the cycle, driving in all five of the Bulldogs runs.

The two teams traded zeroes over the first third of the game before a bases clearing triple from Arias scored three in the fourth to give TLU a 3-0 lead. Arias would drive in Aric Vasquez (San Antonio/Brandeis) with a sixth inning sacrifice fly before an eighth inning solo home run added the Bulldogs final run of the day.

Texas Lutheran is back for day two of the CTX Classic on Saturday, Feb, 10, starting with a Saturday morning rematch with the Tornados at Tornado Field. First pitch is tentatively scheduled for 11 AM - weather permitting. The Bulldogs will follow up with a 2:30 rematch with the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys. All streaming and live stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.