CLEBURNE, Texas – The Celts of the University of St. Thomas extended their baseball season into the postseason for the first time in the program's modern history as they made their debut in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament Friday.

After clinching the fourth and final berth into the tournament last weekend, the Celts were paired against the event's top team, the Tigers of Trinity (Texas). The Tigers, ranked No. 12 in the latest d3baseball.com Top 25 poll, defeated the Celts 11-6.

The loss moves the Celts into an elimination game Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against the loser of Friday's Texas Lutheran-Centenary (La.) game. Should the Celts win that game, they will also play the next contest, scheduled for 7 p.m.

At the Depot at Cleburne Station, Trinity (30-8) scored six of the game's first seven runs en route to the victory. Trailing 11-2, the Celts rallied for four runs in the top of the ninth inning and forced two Trinity pitching changes before the Tigers ended the contest.

Dylan Lamb's solo home run in the ninth inning highlighted the frame. Six different Celts knocked RBIs in the contest, including Tristan Pitkin, who went 2-for-5 with a double.

Noah Martinez and Israel Fields also collected two base hits for the Celts (17-24). Martinez drove home UST's first run in the top of the second inning with a single that scored Erik Garza.

Joseph Chavana pitched eight complete innings for the Tigers and improved to 9-1 with the victory. Landon Murray (4-6) started and pitched four innings for the Celts.