Shreveport - The No. 20 Centenary baseball team will complete its superb regular season this weekend at home as the Gents face the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs in a key three-game Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference series beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday at Shehee Stadium.
The teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday with games set for Noon and 3 p.m. Centenary will hold its annual Senior Day recognition following the 3 p.m. game on Saturday.
Live stats and live video are available for all three games at the links below:
Stats: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2020-21/boxscores/20210430_bcax.xml
Video: https://collegetvticket.com/portal/centenary
The Gents (29-7, 13-5 SCAC) are in the midst of one of their best seasons in the division III (2012-present) era and look to remain undefeated at home this season as they are 16-0 so far. Texas Lutheran (23-10, 13-2 SCAC) enters the series atop the SCAC standings, a half-game ahead of second-place Trinity.
Centenary, which defeated Trinity 14-12 on Sunday, avoided a sweep in the series after dropping a pair of 9-6 games on Saturday in a doubleheader. The Gents, along with Trinity (25-5, 12-2 SCAC) and TLU and Southwestern (18-17, 13-5 SCAC), have all earned spots in next weekend's SCAC Championship in Cleburne, Texas.
The Gents are 19-1 in their last 20 home games and have swept five series at home this season. Centenary is an impressive 38-11 overall since the start of last season (19-1 home/15-9 away/4-1 neutral) and with one more victory can reach 30 wins in a season for just the 10th time in program history. Centenary won a division III era program-record 35 games in 2017 when the Gents advanced to the NCAA Tournament following a conference title. Centenary currently leads the conference in overall wins and is tied for the lead in conference wins.
Centenary head coach Mike Diaz, in his 11th season, has 246 overall wins in his time with the Gents and a staggering 104-42 record in SCAC games. The Gents have reached double digits in conference wins every season but one since becoming a member of the SCAC prior to the 2013 season (conference games not played last season due to COVID-19).
The Gents, ranked for the seventh week in a row in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA poll and have been ranked as high as 14th in the poll this season, exploded for 14 runs on a season-high 21 hits on Sunday. An astounding five Centenary players posted three-hit games and two others collected two each. The Gents also drew four walks, had five extra-base hits, and stole three bases.
Centenary is having on of its best overall statistical seasons in the division III era as the Maroon and White currently rank first in the conference in team batting average (.331) and have an impressive .420 on-base percentage and a .472 slugging percentage. The Gents have hit 24 home runs and have scored a league-high 309 runs. The Maroon and White are also first in the conference in ERA (3.99) and fielding percentage (.975).
The Gents have also dominated the various individual statistical categories this season. Dynamic and versatile senior P/1B Preston Ludwick (Pflugerville, Texas) is leading the Gents and ranks third in the league with an even .400 batting average. He also leads the conference and team in hits (56) and RBI (45). He has 10 doubles, two triples, three home runs, and 42 runs scored. He boasts an impressive .491 OBP and is slugging a whopping .654. He has also struck out a mere eight times in 140 at-bats compared to 23 walks.
Senior RF Cody Crowder (Shepherd, Texas) is putting an exclamation point on his record-breaking career this season. Crowder owns nine division III era career individual records and ranks in the top four in five other categories. He also holds several season records and is the league leader in runs (49) and has 46 hits, 33 RBI, and 16 stolen bases. He is hitting .341 this season with a .480 OBP and is slugging .563 with 11 doubles, five triples, and three homers.
Senior 2B/C Tyler Erickson (Houston, Texas) is having a fantastic senior season of his own as he is hitting .364 with an OBP of .422 and is slugging .430. He is second on the team with 55 hits and third with 35 RBI. He has 28 runs scored and seven extra-base hits and possibly his most impressive stat is that fact that in a team-high 151 at-bats he has only struck out eight times while walking eight times.
Senior 3B Chris Haggard (Lake Charles, La.) and fellow senior DH Tyler Welch (Alexandria, La.) are both having solid final seasons. Haggard is hitting .295 with a .402 OBP and is slugging .439. He has 41 hits, 33 runs, and 28 RBI and is second on the team with four home runs. Welch is batting .358 with 39 hits, 22 runs, nine extra-base hits, 24 RBI and is slugging .495 with a .414 OBP.
A trio of juniors; C Ben Bridges (Beckville, Texas), SS Brady Robinson (Jacksonville, Texas), and CF Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas) are all having fine seasons as well as the three have combined for 132 hits, 88 RBI, and 101 runs scored. The three have also teamed to hit nine home runs, 22 doubles, and five triples. Robinson's five long balls lead the team. Bridges is hitting .290 on the season while Hewitt and Robinson are hitting an identical .351.
Senior Conner Poche (Lutcher, La.) is 4-0 with an even 3.00 ERA on the season. Ludwick is the leader in wins (7) and has a solid 3.64 ERA with a 7-1 record. He has thrown one complete game and has a team-high 67 K's in 54.1 innings pitched. He ranks second on the Gents with 10 appearances and 10 starts. Another senior, lefty Connor Lee (Sugarland, Texas) has made a team-leading 13 appearances and 13 starts and is 6-2 with a 4.45 ERA. In a team-high 64.2 innings pitched he has only walked eight batters.
Sophomore Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.) pitched the final 4.1 innings in Sunday's win at Trinity to earn the win and move to 3-4 on the season. He allowed just one earned run and four hits with no walks and a pair of strikeouts. Primeaux, who has developed into the Gents' top late-innings arm and one of the top relievers in the conference, has struck out 45 batters and has a 3.35 ERA. He leads the conference with nine saves and is tied for second in the country.
Live stats and live video are available for all home contests.
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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