GEORGETOWN, Texas – The Concordia Texas baseball team scored four runs in the first inning and never looked back, completing a 12-2 rout of Southwestern in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday at Rockwell Field.

Eight different Tornados recorded a hit on the night, including a two-hit day for Brett Leiferman, who finished the game with a run scored and three RBIs. Meanwhile, Marcus Thach and Brandon Goynes each scored three times and drove in a run.

On the mound, CTX was dominant as four pitchers combined to allow only two runs on two hits. Michael Smith came in relief of starter Daniel Lewis in the fourth and tossed four scoreless frames, struck out eight Pirates, allowed no hits and walked only a pair to earn his second win of the season.

The Tornados' offense wasted no time as the first four batters of the game recorded a hit, including RBI hits by Thach, Goynes and Leiferman to make it 3-0, respectively. After reaching third on a passed ball in the opening inning, Leiferman scored one batter later on a Peyton Klam sacrifice to push the lead to 4-0.

Lewis made quick work of Southwestern in the first two innings, but ran into trouble in the third as they loaded the bases and scratched across a pair of runs to cut CTX's lead in half.

The Tornados responded with two runs of their own two innings later in the fifth as Thach and Goynes reached to kick off the inning and came home to score on RBI ground outs from Leiferman and Eric Maldonado, retaking a four-run advantage through five.

Concordia Texas broke open the game with back-to-back three-run innings in the seventh and eighth, highlighted by Jayden Hernandez, Leiferman and Chris Varljien RBI singles, extending their advantage to 12-2.

Hayden Schroeder closed the door on the Pirates in the ninth, striking out the side and the Tornados have now won seven of their last eight games after opening the season with two straight losses.

Concordia Texas will have a long layoff as their scheduled game for Wednesday, March 17 was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns on the Tigers' team. The Tornados will next travel to Seguin, Texas for a non-conference matchup against Texas Lutheran  on March 23 at 6:30 p.m.