GEORGETOWN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran baseball came out with a 7-4 win over Southwestern in a back-and-forth game in the series opener Friday night at Rockwell Baseball Field. The Bulldogs (13-7, 3-1 SCAC) scored runs in the fifth, eighth, and ninth innings to secure the win.
Six Bulldogs scored for the Bulldogs Friday night with five Bulldogs registering an RBI.
Blade Strzelczyk (San Antonio/East Central) finished the game 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored. Strzelczyk also pitched an inning and a third in relief - striking out three - to slam the door for his third save of the season. Strzelczyck would work out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth inning before working a scoreless ninth inning.
Joe Burch (Geronimo/Navarro) started and pitched seven and a third innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits and struck out eight batters.
Texas Lutheran jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning before Southwestern would respond with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning.
Texas Lutheran tied the ball game via a fourth inning RBI single from Nick Gardoni (Salinas, Calif./Ruiz (CA)) but Southwestern would immediately retake a 3-2 lead - crossing another run in the bottom of the frame.
The back-and-forth continued as Texas Lutheran took a 4-3 lead in the fifth - scoring two runs courtesy of an RBI double from Tyler Post (San Antonio/Johnson) and a sacrifice fly from Strzelczyk. The Bulldogs would never relinquish the lead again.
The Bulldogs would tack on two more runs in the eighth to go up 6-3 on runs brought in from Payton Dahl (Round Rock/Cedar Ridge) and Blake Cappadona (Mont Belvieu/Barbers Hill). Southwestern would score another run in the bottom of the eighth to bring the Bulldogs lead to 6-4 before the Bulldogs would add an unearned insurance run in the top of the ninth to bring the score to 7-4.
Texas Lutheran will look to clinch a series win as they will face off in a doubleheader with Southwestern on Saturday at Rockwell Baseball Field to wrap the weekend conference series. First pitch is scheduled for 1 and 4 PM. All streaming and live 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).
