The Trinity Saints baseball team extended their winning streak to three games with a convincing 16-2 win over the Chamberlain-Hunt Wildcats Tuesday afternoon in an MPSA District 5-1A game at the Trinity baseball field.

The game was called after four and a half innings due to the 10-run rule as the Saints improved to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in district play. Trinity pitchers Ryan Rachal, Gregory Ketchings and Elliot Meng allowed only three hits and struck out seven.

&uot;Our pitchers battled through,&uot; said Trinity head coach David King.

Rachal was the winning pitcher, giving up two runs, both in the third inning, and two hits while striking out four and walking five.

Chamberlain-Hunt (1-3, 0-2) had a golden opportunity to jump on the Saints early by loading the bases with two outs on a Will Jones single and back-to-back walks in the top of the first inning. However, Rachal struck out Harrison Ward to end the threat.

Trinity scored its first run in the bottom of the first when Gregory Ketchings walked, stole second and scored on a double by Meng.

The Saints then took advantage of Wildcats starting pitcher Craig Gilbert’s erratic throwing, scoring eight times on four hits and six walks as they sent 14 batters to the plate.

Rachal had a two-run single and Chad Ridley and Joey Wilson each had RBI singles. Wilson also had an RBI walk as did Gregory Ketchings and Walt Ketchings, who also scored on an error.

&uot;I thought the bats came alive today,&uot; King said. &uot;I had a little heart-to-heart with them yesterday about dedication, and they responded today. We hit the ball extremely well.&uot;

CHA’s only runs came on a two-run double by Wesley Purvis in the third inning to cut Trinity’s lead to 9-2. That would be as close as the Wildcats would get as Trinity scored twice in the third inning on Meng’s two-run double and five times in the fourth on Meng’s three-run triple, Rachal’s RBI triple and Wes Middleton’s RBI single.

Gregory Ketchings allowed one hit, struck out two and walked one in the fourth inning. Meng went 3-for-4 with six runs batted in at the plate and retired the side in the top of the fifth, including two strikeouts. Rachal was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

&uot;Elliot has hit the ball real well. He’s batting around .400,&uot; King said. &uot;He’s pitching well. I’m proud of the whole team.&uot;

Gilbert was the losing pitcher for CHA, allowing nine runs on six hits while striking out two and walking seven in 1 2/3 innings.

Altogether, there were 20 walks in the game – 14 by CHA’s pitchers.

Trinity next plays at district rival Huntington Friday starting with the JV game at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity game at 7 p.m.