Marshall, Texas- The No. 19 Centenary baseball team continued its amazing offensive output on Tuesday night as the streaking Gents won their 11th consecutive game, blasting the East Texas Baptist University Tigers, 13-5, at Woods Field.
The Gents (17-2) are a superb 26-6 in their last 32 games and have not lost a game since falling 8-5 at Huntingdon back on Feb. 28. The Tigers fell to 12-6 with the loss and Centenary moved to 2-0 versus ETBU this season after previously recording a 7-4 win at home last month.
Centenary moved up to No. 19 in the country in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Week 5 poll on Tuesday, it was announced prior to the game. The Gents, who were ranked 25th last week, have scored 13 or more runs in four-straight games after doing so in all three games of a road sweep in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play last weekend over Austin College. The Gents won 15-10 last Friday in the series opener and then swept a DH on Saturday in convincing fashion, winning 13-4 and 16-1 in seven innings. The Gents are off to their best start in the division III era (2012-present),
The similarities so far between the current Gents team and the spectacular 2017 NCAA Tournament group are striking. The 2017 Gents were 16-3 after 19 games this the current Gents team is one game ahead of their pace. Interestingly, that team also swept Austin College on the road in mid-March to stand at 16-3 and 3-0 in the SCAC to extend its winning streak to nine. Centenary would then sweep its next two conference opponents and win a mid-week non-conference game to extend its winning streak to 16 games.
The Gents, who are 3-0 in SCAC play this season, are five wins away from matching that 16-game winning streak. The Gents have now scored 10 or more runs in a game 11 times this season, and 11 or more nine times and have done so eight times during their current 11-game winning streak.
Centenary collected 16 hits and belted a single-game season-high four home runs on Tuesday and jumped out to a 4-0 lead after its first at-bat. ETBU answered with a pair in the bottom half but then the Maroon and White scored the next four over the next three innings to lead 8-2 after four frames. The Tigers scored two in the bottom of the sixth to make it 8-4 but five runs in the eighth and ninth helped Centenary put the game away and cruise to another dominant win.
Seven Gents posted multi-hit games led by senior first baseman Preston Ludwick (Pflugerville, Texas) who went 3-5 with a game-high four RBI, two home runs, and had two runs scored. Senior right-fielder Cody Crowder (Shepherd, Texas) had a three-hit game which included his 54th career double, to set a division III era (2012-present) program record. Crowder also scored three runs on the night. Junior CF Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas) went 2-6 with a three-run home run and scored two runs from the leadoff spot. The top three in the Gents lineup (Hewitt, Crowder, and Ludwick) combined to go 8-15 with seven RBI and seven runs scored. The Gents wasted no time in getting their potent offense going on Tuesday as Hewitt and Crowder opened the game with consecutive singles to put runners at the corners. A wild pitch scored Hewitt and advanced Crowder to third and then Ludwick went deep for a 3-0 lead.
Senior 2B Tyler Erickson (Houston, Texas), DH Tyler Welch (Alexandria, La.), senior 3B Chris Haggard (Lake Charles, La.), and junior SS Brady Robinson (Jacksonville, Texas) each had two hits. Erickson, Welch, and Haggard also drove in a run apiece. Crowder, Welch, and Haggard all collected doubles to go with the four long balls for a total of seven Centenary extra-base hits in the game. ETBU's 2B Carson Wilson and RF Will Kelley each had two hits and Kelley had a team-high two RBI but the Tigers were held to just six hits in the game. SS Jake Miller and Wilson connected for back to back solo home runs in the first inning but after that the Centenary staff allowed just four more hits over the next eight innings.
Senior left-handed pitcher Connor Lee (Sugarland, Texas) made his team-leading eighth start of the season and pitched an inning, allowing two runs on two hits. Senior Andy Purpura (Bozeman, Mont.) relieved Lee and went the next 4.2 innings and picked up the win to move to 2-0 on the season. Purpura was excellent in relief as he allowed just two runs on three hits with no walks and eight strikeouts. Four Gents relievers followed him and allowed just an unearned run and one hit over the final 3.1 innings with one walk and five K's.
Senior Connor Cudd (Lake Charles, La.) got the last out of the sixth inning, senior Joshua Gatewood (League City, Texas) pitched the seventh, freshman Jacob Colby (Kingwood, Texas) pitched the eighth and struck out two, and sophomore Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.) finished it off with two strikeouts of his own in a clean ninth inning.
Centenary resumes SCAC play at home this weekend as the Gents welcome Schreiner to Shehee Stadium for a three-game series and the start of a six-game homestand as Dallas comes to town April 2-3 for a three-game series.
A link to the Gents' complete 2021 schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2020-21/schedule
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