Baseball Drops SCAC Opening Doubleheader to St. Thomas

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran found the going rough in its Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) opening doubleheader Thursday as the Bulldogs (11-8, 0-2 SCAC) dropped both ends of their doubleheader against St. Thomas - losing game one, 2-0, and losing game two 8-7 in ten innings as the Celts snapped the Bulldogs six-game win streak.

In game one, JT Taylor (Conroe/Fort Bend Christian) started and pitched the longest outing of his collegiate career, tossing a complete game and allowing two runs on six hits. He was credited with the loss and dropped to 3-2 on the season.

Carson Draehn (Brenham/Brenham) went 2-for-4 to lead the Bulldogs offensively, while Chase Bourgeois (League City/Clear Falls), Tyler Post (San Antonio/Johnson), and Cole Cravens (Round Rock/Round Rock) each added a hit.

Taylor allowed a string of base runners to start the first inning before the Celts (7-12, 2-0 SCAC) scored on a passed ball and an RBI groundout to take a 2-0 lead after the first. That is where the score would remain as both team's starting pitchers would go the distance Thursday evening - limiting both offenses for the remainder of the game.

Texas Lutheran fought until the very end but came up just short against the Celts, losing 8-7 in ten innings in game two Thursday night.

Brendan Beard (Coldspring/Coldspring-Oakhurst) pitched 7.1 innings and allowed six runs (two earned) on seven hits. He struck out a career-high 14 batters, falling one short of the most strikeouts for a Bulldog since joining the SCAC - a distinction held by Thomas Harwell who struck out 15 Southwestern batters in 2015. Beard sits atop of the SCAC with 47 strikeouts this season.

Hayden Kesselring (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) went 2-for-4 with a triple, two-RBI and a run scored. Tyler Post was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI while Cole Cravens was 1-for-4 with two-RBI.

Nolan McInvale (Poth/Poth) pitched 1.2 innings out of the bullpen and would allow two unearned runs on three hits and two walks to pick up his second loss of the season.

The Celts took an early 1-0 lead as Beard allowed a solo homer in the first inning. Texas Lutheran answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning with an Adam Peavy (Houston/Memorial) RBI single tying the game at one.

St. Thomas would score a pair of runs in the third to take a 3-1 lead.

Kesselring tied the game 3-3 with a two-RBI triple in the fourth inning.

The Bulldogs took the lead following a two-RBI single from Cole Cravens. An RBI fielder's choice from Xavier Arias (La Vernia/Nixon-Smiley) and an RBI single from Tyler Post gave the Bulldogs a 7-3 lead in the sixth.

St. Thomas tied the game up with four unanswered runs in the top of the eighth. Following two one out singles and a passed ball to move both runners into scoring position, two runs scored on a TLU throwing error to cut the lead in half before a pair of two-out doubles tied the game at 7-7.

The Celts started the top of the 10th inning with a lead-off single and a sacrifice bunt to put the winning run in scoring position. A passed ball moved the base runner to third and a throwing error following a UST bunt attempt allowed the Celts to score their game-winning run in the tenth.

Texas Lutheran had opportunities throughout the game but were unable to take full advantage - leaving eight runners on base.

Texas Lutheran will look to salvage the series in a game three at a yet to be determined time and date due to potential weather in Seguin this weekend. All schedule updates will be available on tlubulldogs.com.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).