KERRVILLE, Texas -- Texas Lutheran survived a late Schreiner rally to post a 12-9 win in 11 innings and moved into a slim lead in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball standings.
TLU swept the three-game road series with the Mountaineers and improved to 22-10 overall and to 13-2 in the SCAC. The Bulldogs have a half-game lead on Trinity with three regular-season conference games to play. The Bulldogs travel to Shreveport this weekend to play Centenary.
Schreiner dropped to 13-24 overall and to 6-12.
TLU won the first two games of the series on Saturday with 15-2 and 16-3 victories. Both wins came in seven innings.
The Bulldogs appeared on their way to another comfortable conference win, taking an 8-1 lead into the bottom of the eighth. Schreiner rallied for two runs in the eighth and five in the ninth to tie the game at 9-9. Schreiner had the winning run at second base with two outs in the ninth.
The Bulldogs used a two-out rally in the bottom of the 11th to get back in front.
Randy Huerta started the rally with a double. He was followed by back-to-back doubles from
Nick Gardoni and
Collin Docker. Gardoni drove home Huerta, and Docker brought home pinch runner
Blake Cappadona.
Blade Strzelczyk delivered the third run of the inning with a single that scored Docker.
Brendan Beard pitched 2-1/3 innings of shutout relief and improved to 2-2. He struck out four and walked one.
TLU hits the road this Tuesday for a non-conference contest against Trinity University. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. in San Antonio.
