GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Diego Cruz-Garcia, Matthew Williams and Caleb Nicholson combined to throw 9.0 scoreless innings while allowing just five hits and striking out 11 to help the Concordia Texas baseball team open the 2019 season by defeating Linfield 4-0 Friday at QuickTrip Field.

With the win, CTX has now won their season opener three straight seasons with the previous two both resulting in trips to the NCAA Regionals.

Williams, a junior from Austin, Texas, picked up right where he left off in 2018, giving up just two hits over 4.2 innings. The 2018 First Team All-American Southwest Conference selection fanned seven hitters on the day

Cruz-Garcia got the start on the mound and tossed 3.0 scoreless frames, while striking out three, and allowing three hits, while Nicholson picked up the save after throwing 1.1 hitless frames.

The shutout is the first nine-inning shutout for the Tornados since defeating LeTourneau 9-0 on March 10, 2017.

The Tornados got the scoring started in the top half of the second inning when Reed Carlton raced home on a double steal after moving to third on a single from Bret Leiferman.

Leiferman, a senior from Round Rock, Texas, closed the day 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in his first game back in the lineup since suffering an injury, which caused him to miss the majority of the 2018 season.

The score remained 1-0 until the eighth inning when Carson Cox reached on a two-out walk, stole second and was brought home on an RBI single from Carlton. Later in the inning, Carlton and Leiferman both came home on back-to-back mistakes from Linfield after a balk and an error made the score 4-0.

Next up, CTX takes on Mary Hardin-Baylor in a non-conference matchup at 11 a.m. on Saturday at QuickTrip Field in Grand Prairie, Texas.