Nineteen straight wins, the program’s third straight Heritage League title and an 11-strikeout performance from freshman Andrew Carlson clinched the perfect season for Trinity Knights baseball.
The Knights finished as the only undefeated team in the state and made the perfect regular season official on Tuesday after their 8-1 win over the Desert Christian Knights at the William S. Hart Baseball & Softball complex.
Trinity (19-0, 12-0) was fueled by its freshman sensation Carlson, who sliced through the Desert Christian lineup. Carlson allowed just three hits, two walks and one run.
Carlson also shined at the plate and was one of five Trinity Knights to have multiple hits on the day.
“Coming into the season, I knew we’re gonna be pretty good but I didn’t think we’re gonna go undefeated,” Carlson said. “Some players that are new, really stepped up. It’s just exciting to see how it turned out.”
Trinity rolled from the get-go and brought in a pair of runs in the first and second innings.
Carlson brought in his first of four RBIs after his first-inning single brought in shortstop Jordan Lovelace. Catcher Noah Visconti then returned the favor and scored Carlson.
Lovelace finished the day 2-for-3 and raised his league batting average to .690. The junior added his second hit of the day in the second inning with a huge RBI triple that scored senior Tyler Backman.
Backman is the only senior on Trinity’s unscathed team and was honored before the game in his final regular season home game for the Knights. Backman nearly lost his senior season before it began after breaking his arm in the preseason.
The senior worked tirelessly to return to the field and has been back in the lineup for a couple of weeks now.
“(Backman had a) really unfortunate injury before the season even started,” said Trinity coach Trevor Brown. “He’s pushed his physical therapy and really tried to get back into it. He’s been with us for the past two or three weeks and I got to hit him leadoff today to try to give as many at-bats possible. He had an RBI, 2-for-4, he had a good game and so he’s super pumped and the boys were all fired up for him and all behind him.”
Backman finished his senior day going 2-for-4.
Trinity rallied in the sixth and added four more runs, half of which came pouring in on an RBI double from Carlson. The freshman’s older brother John Carlson also batted a perfect 3-for-3, along with sophomore Quinn Minyard.
Desert couldn’t find an answer against the freshman Carlson but added one run in the fourth inning on a sacrifice groundout.
Trinity would’ve piled in a few more runs if not for the arm of Desert center fielder Oskar Medina, who threw two perfect balls from deep to catcher Nicholas Weathers for a pair of impressive putouts.
Trinity won 18 straight games last season but for Brown, a perfect 19-0 record still wasn’t on the radar.
“A perfect season is hard to come by,” Brown said. “We’ve played a lot of good teams and we’ve had to fight in a couple games. Regardless, to be undefeated is something pretty special and the boys have accomplished something that definitely doesn’t happen very often.”
Trinity has its share of standouts on the team and for Andrew, the lack of star players and balance could take this team far.
“I think everyone has really put into the team,” the freshman Carlson said. “There’s not really a star player. It’s a team game. It’s not about yourself. There’s no I in team. So if we play as a team, we can make it far.”
For a team that seemingly does everything right, Andrew still believes what stands out the most is the team’s camaraderie and energy.
“The energy is great. Everyone’s like a family,” Andrew said. “Everyone backs up each other. If someone’s down, we’re cheering them up.”
Andrew finishes the regular season 6-0 with a 0.50 ERA and 50 strikeouts. John had another stellar year following up his Heritage League Offensive Player of the Year title last season on both offense and defense. The junior finished the season 9-0 with one save, a 0.67 ERA and a team-high 88 strikeouts in 2024.
“We’ve had fantastic pitching from the Carlson brothers, Jordan Lovelace has been just a staple leadoff guy for us and has kind of been a catalyst in every inning, Luke Backes has been a power guy in the middle of our lineup,” Brown said. “Up and down, I just don’t think we have any easy outs and I don’t think that we give away any easy at bats. Our pitchers are dogs out there and they make guys work for their hits. The combination of all that has made this team a tough team to beat.”
Trinity will now get a handful of days off before entering the CIF Division 5 playoffs, where the team currently ranks seventh.
The hot bats that average just under 10 runs a game and the pitchers, who have allowed just over one run a game, will be tested as the team returns to the postseason. The core of the team was on the 2023 roster, which reached the CIF quarterfinals, and is hungry for more.
“I’m really excited for the playoffs,” Brown said. “Day one, we talked about a couple goals for the season and winning league was our first priority and they’ve accomplished their goal. We just talked about in the huddle that we’ve accomplished something great, but we still have more to accomplish and now we’re setting our sights on another goal of making a big, late playoff run. We’re gonna try to continue on this path of playing good baseball and competing out there.”
Trinity finds out its postseason destiny on Monday when the CIF releases its postseason brackets.
