Shreveport - The Centenary baseball team finished its season-opening series over the University of the Ozarks with a resounding 14-3 run-rule victory in seven innings on Saturday night as the Diamond Gents won three of our games over the Eagles during the weekend at a chilly Shehee Stadium.
The Diamond Gents (3-1) scored 35 games in the four games and continued their excellent play of late at home as they are 36-9 at Shehee Stadium since the beginning of the 2021 season. Ozarks (1-3) was able to salvage one game during the weekend, a 5-2 victory earlier on Saturday, but Centenary showed its talent and experience with 8-3 and 11-1 victories prior to Saturday's 14-3 score.
Centenary entered the weekend ranked #36 in Collegiate Baseball's D-3 Preseason Poll and are receiving votes in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 Poll. The Maroon and White finished the season-opening series with a .340 average, .446 OBP, slugged .485, and had 35 hits including 12 extra-base hits. The pitching staff was also impressive as it combined for a 2.25 ERA, allowing just seven earned runs in 28 innings pitched with 27 strikeouts and only seven walks.
Freshman RHP Cade Josting (Bossier City, La.) made his collegiate debut for Centenary and picked up the win as he went 4.2 innings and allowed three runs, two earned, on eight hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out two of the 20 he faced. Senior RHP Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.) came in for Josting and went 1.1 innings and allowed a hit but no runs with two K's. Freshman RHP Aidan Reichek (Houston, Texas) relieved Primeaux and went 0.2 IP as he allowed one hit and struck out one. Senior RHP Trevor Henry (Bossier City, La.) got the final out of the game as the Diamond Gents' fourth pitcher of the game.
Six pitchers took the mound for the Eagles and starter Jeter Fulbright (0-1) took the loss as he allowed five runs, three earned, and three hits in 0.2 innings with a walk and no K's. He faced just eight batters and hit one. The next five pitchers for Ozarks combined to walk five, hit two more batters, and allow 14 hits.
Centenary finished with 10 hits and drew six walks. Ozarks also had 10 hits but committed four errors, did not draw a walk, struck out five times, and left five on base. The Diamond Gents only struck out four times and left just three on base. Ozarks committed 12 errors during the weekend as its defense was a constant liability.
The Eagles scored a run in the top of the first on an RBI single by SS Ethan Cash, but that brief lead was gone quickly as Centenary scored five in the bottom of the first. Sophomore DH Cade LaBruyere (Iowa, La.) and freshman 3B Hayden Stringfellow (Boerne, Texas) delivered two-RBI doubles and junior 1B Austyn Benoit (Welsh, La.) had a sacrifice fly. 2B Cole Clark drove in a run for the Eagles with a groundout in the third but Centenary answered with two in the bottom half for a 7-2 lead. The Diamond Gents scored twice more in the fourth, once in the fifth, and four times in the bottom of the sixth to run away with the victory.
Junior 2B Jobee Boone (Opelousas, La.), freshman LF Lenny Forth (Flower Mound, Texas), and LaBruyere combined to go 6-9 with four RBI, eight runs scored, and three walks in the middle of the lineup. LaBruyere had three stolen bases. Forth had a pair of doubles. Freshman RF Carson Livesay (Lafayette, La.) was 1-2 with two runs scored, a triple, a sacrifice fly, and a walk and senior CF Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas) was 1-3 with an RBI, a stolen base, and scored a run. Senior SS Noah Koehmstedt (San Diego, Calif.) was 1-2 with an RBI, a walk, and two stolen bases. Centenary stole seven bases in the game which is tied for the eighth-most in a single game in the division III (2012-resent) era.
Freshman 3B Hayden Stringfellow (Boerne, Texas) finished off an impressive weekend as he was 1-3 with three RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base. The rookie finished with a team-high seven RBI and hit a sizzling .417 with an OBP of .467 and slugged .500. Boone hit .583 in the series with an OBP of .600 and slugged .667. He went 7-12 with six runs scored, three RBI, a double, a walk, and two stolen bases. Forth hit .467 (7-15) this weekend and had five RBI, scored five runs, had two doubles, and finished with an OBP of .467 and slugged .600. He had at least one RBI in three of the four games in the series.
CF Rennie Arjona was 3-4 from the leadoff spot for the Eagles with an RBI and a run scored. Seven Eagles had one hit each and Cash and Clark had the other two RBI.
Centenary now hits the road to face Whittier College, University of Redlands, and the University of La Verne in California on Feb. 25-26.
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests. Please note that all dates and times are subject to change.
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