SEGUIN, Texas -- No. 25 Texas Lutheran Baseball split their Friday SCAC doubleheader with Austin College dropping game one, 8-7, before winning game two 6-2 at Katt-Isbel Field on Friday.
Texas Lutheran (12-3, 8-3 SCAC) trailed 7-0 early and was unable to complete a comeback, dropping the series opener to Austin, 8-7.
Aiden Spires (Forth Worth/Arlington Heights) had a big game at the plate, going 3-for-4 to finish a home run short of the cycle with an RBI and three runs scored.
Cole Cravens (Round Rock/Round Rock) finished 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.
Parker Schutte (Arlington/Lamar) was effective out of the bullpen, allowing three runs (two earned) over 8.1 innings of relief.
Austin College scored five runs on two hits and an error in the first inning to form an early deficit TLU was unable to overcome. The 'Roos added to the lead with another run in the second inning.
The 'Roos extended their lead out to 7-0 in the fourth inning on a solo home run.
TLU got on the board in the fifth inning with a two-out, two-RBI single from
Chase Bourgeois (League City/Clear Falls) to make the score 7-2.
The Bulldogs put up another pair of runs in the sixth to trim the 'Roos lead to 7-4 courtesy of a two-out, two-RBI single from
Cole Cravens.
Austin College got one of the runs right back in the seventh before the Bulldogs responded in the bottom of the inning with a sacrifice fly from Bourgeois to make it 8-5.
An RBI double from
Aiden Spires and an RBI single from Michael Barerra (San Antonio/East Central) narrowed the lead to 8-7 in the bottom of the ninth. TLU got two runners on with two outs but were unable to scratch out the tying run as the late rally came up short.
TLU came back to beat Austin College 6-2 to even the series behind a stellar outing on the mound from freshman
Jack Grames (Elgin/Elgin).
Grames improved to 5-0 on the season, going 8.1 innings and allowing two runs on nine hits while striking out four. Grames allowed just three base runners in the fourth through eighth innings.
Cody Andrade (Calallen/Calallen) entered the game in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and one out and got TLU out of the jam. Andrade was credited with his fourth save of the season and second of the week. Andrade ranks second nationally in Division-III and sixth across all three NCAA levels in saves.
Brayden Sprencel (Robstown/Calallen) and
Kadyn Hall (La Grange/La Grange) both tallied two hits and drove in two runs to lead the offense.
Texas Lutheran jumped out with four runs in the first inning. Sprencel started the scoring with an RBI double down the left field line before
Cole Cravens drove him in with an RBI single. Hall capped the scoring with a two-RBI single to give TLU a 4-0 lead.
Austin College cut the lead in half in the second before TLU got a run back in the bottom of the inning.
An RBI groundout from Sprencel in the fourth was responsible for the final run of the game for either squad.
Austin College threatened in the ninth inning but Andrade was able to keep the 'Roos off the scoreboard.
The Bulldogs will go for the series win in the series finale on Saturday at 11 AM. The game will be streamed on FloCollege. 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).
