Diamond Gents' Season Ends In 14-9 Loss To LaGrange In NCAA Division III Championship

LaGrange, Ga. – The Centenary baseball season came to an end on Saturday afternoon in game three of the NCAA Division III Championship as the Diamond Gents fell 14-9 to the LaGrange College Panthers at Cleaveland Field in Williamson Stadium.

Centenary, the 2022 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament champion, finishes the campaign at 27-19 overall after making its second all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament after previously making it in 2017. LaGrange (40-6) won the first two games of the series on Friday, 7-3 in game one and 9-7 in comeback fashion in game two.

The Panthers will face the winner of the Orange, Calif. Region hosted by Chapman University which features host Chapman, Pomona-Pitzer, Cal Lutheran, and Pacific (Ore.) in the super regional next weekend.

The Diamond Gents got on the board first, scoring a single run in the top of the first as senior 2B Tyler Erickson (Houston, Texas) singled to short to score senior 3B Brady Robinson (Jacksonville, Texas). Senior 1B Ben Bridges (Beckville, Texas) attempted to score after a throwing error by LaGrange SS Cael Chatham, but was out at the plate to end the inning.  

The 1-0 lead remained until the fourth inning when Centenary scored four more times to extend its lead to 5-0. Junior SS Noah Koehmstedt (San Diego, Calif.) delivered a two-run single, Koehmstedt came home when Panthers' C David Smigelski threw wildly on a pickoff attempt, and senior RHP Preston Ludwick (Pflugerville, Texas) had an RBI single to score Robinson.

The Panthers cut into the Diamond Gents' lead with three runs in the bottom of the fourth. 1B Jack Layrisson had a sacrifice fly and DH Jared Aldridge had a two-RBI single. LaGrange took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth with four runs, and never looked back. Layrisson had an RBI double, Aldridge had a two-run single, and LF Gabriel Pallo delivered an RBI single.

LaGrange scored twice more in the sixth and another four times in the seventh to take a 13-5 lead. Centenary, however, responded with four runs in the top of the eighth to make the Panthers sweat. Senior LF Tyler Welch (Pineville, La.) had an RBI double, Senior CF Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas) ripped an RBI single, and a sacrifice fly and RBI groundout plated the other two runs. LaGrange CF McKinley Erves, who had a two-run home run in the seventh, doubled home Pallo in the eighth for the final run of the game, making it 14-9.

Centenary banged out 17 hits while LaGrange had 15. The Diamond Gents drew a pair of walks and only struck out four times but left 11 on base. The Panthers walked eight times, struck out three times, and left 13 on the bases. The Diamond Gents played error-free ball while the Panthers committed three. Centenary had a pair of runners thrown out at the plate and hit into one double play.

Hewitt, Koehmstedt, and Robinson combined to go 9-13 with three RBI and four runs scored. Bridges, Erickson, Ludwick, and Welch each had two hits and Ludwick and Koehmstedt led the way with two RBI each. Erves' 4-4 performance with three RBI, four runs scored, two walks, and two extra-base hits paced the Panthers' offensive attack.

Ludwick (5-4) started on the mound for Centenary and suffered the loss in his final collegiate appearance. He was charged with seven runs, all earned, and nine hits in 4.2 innings if work with two walks, three strikeouts, and hit a pair of batters. Eight pitchers followed him, covering the final 3.1 innings. Ethan Kramer (2-2) picked up the win for the Panthers as the first reliever in the game following starter Ethan Fry. Kramer allowed just an unearned run and three hits in his two innings of work with a walk.

Centenary, despite the three-game sweep, finished the season winners of 11 of its final 16 games and went 21-12 over the final 33 games.

See the complete Diamond Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2021-22/schedule

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