Diamond Gents Set To Face No. 24 Trinity In Pivotal SCAC Series

San Antonio, Texas – The Centenary baseball team returns to Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play this weekend for a pivotal series with the No. 24 Trinity University Tigers beginning with a single game on Friday at 6 p.m. at Trinity Baseball Field.

Live stats and live video are available for Friday's game at the links below:

Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=448326

Video: https://www.youtube.com/live/6AfifTAqWnw?feature=share

The Diamond Gents (12-7, 4-2 SCAC) and No. 24 Tigers (13-9, 4-2 SCAC) will complete the series with a doubleheader on Saturday scheduled for 1 and 4 p.m. Trinity, 12-6 at home this season, is ranked 24^th in this week's D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll.

The Diamond Gents and Tigers will meet for the first time since No. 3 seed Centenary defeated No. 1 seed Trinity by a score of 10-5 to win the 2022 SCAC Championship last May in Cleburne, Texas.

Centenary stepped out of conference twice this week for a pair of non-conference contests, earning a walk-off win over LeTourneau, 3-2, at home on Tuesday and falling 12-2 in seven innings at Louisiana Christian University on Wednesday in Pineville, La. Trinity, which lost two of three at Texas Lutheran last weekend, lost at home to Mary Hardin-Baylor 4-3 on Tuesday.

The Diamond Gents, who began conference play with a home series win over TLU March 17-18, earned another series win last weekend at Shehee Stadium over the University of Dallas. After the Crusaders beat the Gents 11-4 in the series opener last Saturday, the Maroon and White responded with a pair of emotional wins. The first was an 18-0 run-rule victory in game two of Saturday's doubleheader in which freshman RHP Aidan Reichek (Bellaire, Texas) tossed a no-hitter.

The no-hitter is the first thrown since Matthew Devillier held Austin College hitless on April 20, 2018 at home. Reichek and Devillier's no-hitters are the only two in the division III era (2012-present) in program history.

Reichek was as efficient as he was dominant against the Crusaders, needing just 70 pitches in his seven innings of work. He struck out the final two batters of the second, one in the fourth, the first two batters of the fifth, then one in the sixth and one in the seventh. Sean Hannigan pinch hit with two outs in the seventh and flew out to center and after the ball found its way safely into the glove of senior CF Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas), the mad dash from the Diamond Gents' dugout began and the celebration was on.

Reichek was named the SCAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week on Monday and was named to the named to the D3baseball.com Team of the Week as a starting pitcher and named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Div. III Rookie of the Week on Wednesday. Reichek is the second Centenary player to earn the D3Baseball.com honor this season after All-American sophomore LHP Tyler Herrera (Spring, Texas) made the team as a starting pitcher last month. 

Junior Julien DeLeon (Shreveport, La.) delivered a one-out pinch-hit double in the bottom of the ninth to give the Diamond Gents a thrilling 3-2 win on Sunday afternoon which clinched the series. Freshman LF Lenny Forth (Flower Mound, Texas) grounded out to begin the bottom of the ninth but senior SS Noah Koehmstedt (San Diego, Calif.) followed with a single to left. Freshman 1B Collin Pitts (Lufkin, Texas) then walked to put runners at first and second with one out.

DeLeon then stepped to the plate, hitless in his previous six at-bats this season, and wasted no time as he ripped the first pitch he saw past the first base bag and down the right-field line. Koehmstedt raced around from second base as the jubilant DeLeon cruised into second with arguably Centenary's biggest hit to date this season.

The Diamond Gents are averaging 6.95 runs per game this season and have scored 10+ runs six times and had 10 or more hits in a game 10 times including seven of the last 11 game. Centenary enters the weekend ranked in the top two in the SCAC in team batting average (.290), ERA (3.20), and fielding percentage (.959 %). The Diamond Gents' team ERA ranks in the top 10 in the country in division III.

Centenary head coach Mike Diaz is just three wins away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in program history. Diaz, currently in his 13^th season, is 288-203-1, needs just three wins to match former HC Ed McCann (1999-2010).

HITTERS TO WATCH:

Freshman OF Carson Livesay (Lafayette, La.)

.388 26 H 19 R 12 RBI 5 doubles, 2 triples, 1 home run 8 BB 8 K 7 SB (in 9 attempts)

*Livesay is tied for team lead in hits, leader in runs scored, leader in batting average, OBP, slugging %, second in RBI, tied for second in stolen bases, leader in doubles and triples, and tied for team lead in HR

Junior 2B Jobee Boone (Opelousas, La.)

.394 26 H 15 R 13 RBI 2 doubles 6 BB 4 K 6 SB (in 7 attempts)

Junior C/UT Austyn Benoit (Welsh, La.)

.364 16 H 12 R 13 RBI 1 double, 1 triple, 1 home run

Senior CF Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas)

.304 21 H 17 R 11 RBI 1 triple 6 BB 4 K 9 SB (in 9 attempts)

Freshman OF Lenny Forth (Flower Mound, Texas)

.343 23 H 15 R 11 RBI 3 doubles 3 SB

PITCHERS TO WATCH:

Senior RHP Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.)

11 APP 3 GS 3-0 1.85 ERA 34.0 IP 33 H 8 R 7 ER 8 BB 37 K 1 Save

*Primeaux is three saves away from tying the career mark of 17 for the division III era.

Sophomore LHP Tyler Herrera (Spring, Texas)

5 APP 5 GS 3-2 3.31 ERA 32.2 IP 23 H 16 R 12 ER 8 BB 35 K 2 CG's

Freshman RHP Aiden Reicheck (Bellaire, Texas)

6 APP 3 GS 1-0 1.25 ERA 21.2 IP 11 H 5 R 3 ER 5 BB 19 K 1 CG

Freshman RHP Jacob Broussard (Houston, Texas)

9 APP 1 GS 1-1 0.64 ERA 9 H 3 R 1 ER 7 BB 6 K 1 save

Centenary was picked to finish third this season in the SCAC preseason poll while Trinity was picked to win the league. Southwestern (17-4, 5-1 SCAC) is the current leader and was picked to finish fifth. Both the Diamond Gents and Tigers will face Southwestern on the road next month.

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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