SEGUIN, Texas- The Pacific Lutheran University baseball team showed no signs of rust in the season opener on Saturday, piling on 21 runs in a doubleheader sweep of defending Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Champion and host Texas Lutheran University. The Lutes belted the Bulldogs 8-2 in the opener before walking off Katt-Isbel Field with the sweep after taking the nightcap 13-2.

"It was a solid day for us today. We had two great starting pitching performances that really set the tone," said Head Coach Nolan Soete.

"Tommy Snyder was lights out in game one. He had command of all his pitches and did a great job controlling both halves of the plate. Cole Trotignon was absolutely on point today. He carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. We played good defense adn had some clutch hitting performances with runners in scoring position. Cole had a big day offensively with two home runs and Tori Doten hit his first collegiate home run. Ethan Keintz and Braeden Lundberg both had their first collegiate hits too."

The opener was scoreless until the fourth inning with Ashton Barton belting a single to left field to score Jordan Haworth. Barton would score later in the inning on an RBI groundout from Tori Doten. Cole Trotignon had an two-RBI single in the fifth before Doten belted his first career homer in the sixth. Trotignon went yard in the seventh, belting a two-run shot before adding a solo home run in the ninth.

Texas Lutheran pushed across two runs in the ninth but it was too little, too late, for the hosts.

Trotignon paced the Lutes at the plate with three hits and five RBIs while Barton had a pair of hits.

Tommy Snyder picked up the win on the hill, pitching six innings and striking out four while allowing just two hits. Noah Ferguson allowed no hits in two innings of action while Trevor Mason finished the game by recording the final three outs.

In the nightcap, the Lutes drew first blood with a Sean Kauffman single scoring two in the fourth inning. PLU tacked on three more in the fifth with RBIs from Haworth, Barton, and Connor Lemma. PLU added two more in the sixth, two more in the seventh, before opening the floodgates with four runs in the eighth.

Andy Schmitz finished with three hits and two RBIs in game two while Trotignon was three-for-three with three runs scored.

On the mound, Trotignon notched six strikeouts in seven innings of work.

"There are definitely some things we need to clean up offensively, but overall it was a great start to the season."

The Lutes are back on the diamond on FRiday, facing crosstown nemesis University of Puget Sound at 3 p.m. before welcoming Saint Martin's University to PLU Field for the home opener on Saturday.