The Concordia Baseball team led by Justin Traxler's strong outing on the mound, defeated number 10 ranked Texas Lutheran 7-1 Friday night on opening night of the season.

Traxler pitched six innings for the Tornados (1-0), giving up only one run on three hits, and struck out five batters. Bret Leiferman led the offense going one for two from the plate with two runs and two RBIs, including a home run, and his patience at the plate led to three walks on the night. Jake Valadez, the transfer from Texas State, went two for three with a run and an RBI. Nathan Malinovsky went five innings for the Bulldogs (0-1), giving up seven runs and walking four.

CTX pushed two runs across the plate in the first inning, without getting a hit, as two of the three first hitters walked. After a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, Michael Evan's groundout gave the Tornados a 1-0 lead. Malinovsky's second wild pitch of the inning allowed Lieferman to score from third and CTX lead 2-0.

In the third inning, after the first two batters were retired, Leiferman sent a ball over the right-field wall for his first home run of the season and made it 3-0, Evan followed up with a walk and would score on Valadez's double to make it 4-0. The Tornados would add three more in the sixth inning after four straight singles to start the inning and batted around as a team.

Traxler entered the season on the players to watch list in the American Southwest Conference and held his own against the number ten ranked in the nation by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

After a quick three up, three down first inning, Traxler gave up a leadoff double in the second inning. He would follow that up with a strikeout, a flyout and groundout to escape the inning. TLU threated in third inning with runners on second and third and one out, but Traxler was able to get the two and three hitters to flyout to end the inning. He would give up a run in the fourth, but nothing further as he struck out his final two batters in the sixth inning to end his night.

Kylen Harrell came in in the seventh inning and pitched the final three innings giving up only one hit and a walk, while striking out three.

CTX will play a doubleheader against the Bulldogs Saturday afternoon starting at 2 p.m. at Tornado Field in the team's opening home series. Between the games, the Tornados will honor the men's golf team by presenting them with their 2016 ASC championship rings.