The Denison baseball team split a pair of games in Seguin, Texas on Monday as they knocked off Texas Lutheran 6-1 before falling to fourth-ranked Trinity (Texas) 13-5. With the win against the Bulldogs, the 2016 Big Red squad became the first team in the modern era of the program, which dates back to 1944, to open a season with a 5-0 record.

After drawing a pair of walks in the opening frame against Texas Lutheran, sophomore Noah Hahn drove in senior Jake Meegan with a single to center. Sophomore Tanner Johnson came around to score from second base on an error at short, while Hahn crossed the dish on an error by the catcher. All three DU runs were unearned because of three errors by the Bulldog defense.

Texas Lutheran cut into the deficit in the bottom of the frame when Keaton Bohrmann doubled in Riley Schaefer with two outs. After three scoreless innings, the Big Red added to their lead in the fifth. Hahn got things going with a one-out single to right. Junior Evan Flax followed with a triple to the left center gap that drove in Hahn.

Denison tacked on two more runs in the eighth when Duncan Moran scored on a wild pitch by Derek Cantu. After moving from first to third on the wild pitch, Meegan came home on a sacrifice fly to right by Johnson. The Bulldogs started to make some noise in the ninth before Perley Provost induced a 4-6-3 double play to secure the five-run win.

Hahn finished with three hits, an RBI and two runs, while Meegan was 2-for-3 with two runs and two stolen bases. Freshman pitcher Mikey Rivera, who made his first-career start, improved to 2-0 on the year after scattering five hits and allowing just one run with five strikeouts in six innings of work. Relievers Connor Hanrahan and Provost combined for three shutout innings, surrendering three hits with one strikeout.

In the nightcap against fourth-ranked Trinity (Texas), the Tigers broke a 5-5 tie by scoring eight times in their final at-bat of the game. Trinity had four extra-base hits in the eight-run eighth that put the game out of reach.

Denison took an early lead by scoring four runs in the top of the first inning. Flax drove in a pair with a base hit to left, while a misplayed ground ball allowed Eric Zmuda and and Flax to score. The Tigers answered with two runs in the bottom of the first, and solo runs in the second, fifth and sixth innings which resulted in a 5-4 Trinity advantage. Junior Tucker Davison tied the game in the top of the seventh when he scored on a wild pitch.

Meegan and Phil Papaioannou both collected two hits, while Flax recorded two RBIs. Senior Adam Goldstein suffered the loss after allowing five runs on three hits in 1.1 innings out of the pen. Starter Ian Walsh surrendered five runs on five hits with five strikeouts in six innings.

The Big Red (5-1) returns to action on Tuesday when they take on Howard Payne University at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. central time.