TBC Eagles Baseball nearly erased an 11-run fourth-inning deficit and actually pulled to within one in Friday night's series opener with USCAA Atlantis University. Dominic Gattinella homered, and Parker Laffrey drove in three runs in the big comeback effort. However, Atlantis kept the tying run off the board and tacked on some insurance in the ninth to win 19-15.

Gattinella capped a five-run bottom of the second with his first collegiate home run, a two-run shot that made the score 6-5 in favor of Atlantis. Laffrey had already doubled in a pair of runs and scored on Gattinella's blast after Jacob Brigman put TBC on the board with a RBI single to drive in Jacob Burke (single).

[Dominic Gattinella hit his first collegiate home run on Friday.]

Atlantis, though, responded with a second consecutive six-run frame on the top of the third and scored four more in the fourth to go ahead by a seemingly insurmountable 16-5 margin.

Not giving up, Trinity got a single run in the fourth on Jordan Fernandez's RBI triple before putting up crooked numbers in each of the next three innings. In the fifth, Brigman and Laffrey each doubled in a run, and Nate Nogueras singled home another. In the sixth, four runs scored via a hit batsman, a passed ball, a sacrifice fly, and a ground ball. In the seventh, an error-filled play and a passed ball led to two runs that pulled the Eagles to within one at 16-15.

Fernadez was 4 for 6 with a run scored and a run driven in while Gattinella, Laffrey, and Brigman each had 2 hits and Nogueras, Burke, and Seth Reeves also hit safely.

The Eagles loaded the bases in the eighth, but Atlantis closer Jorge Garcia got a pair of strikeouts to end the threat. After Atlantis got three unearned runs in the top of the ninth, Garcia pitched a scoreless bottom half to earn his 10^th save of the season.

Jonathan Vasallo hit a three-run shot for Atlantis in the third and totaled 4 RBI. Elvin Granado, Justin Suarez, and Henry Estrada each drove in a pair of runs.

The two teams will play a double-header on Saturday beginning at 12:00 noon EDT. The Eagles will then travel to NAIA Thomas University on Tuesday before returning home for a three-game series against the South Region's Bob Jones University on Friday and Saturday, April 19 and 20. Friday's game is at Oakleaf High School in the Argyle area.