Shreveport– The Centenary baseball team opened its final Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference series at home in the regular season on Friday with a 6-2 win over the Schreiner University Mountaineers at Shehee Stadium.
The Diamond Gents improved to 14-11 and 6-6 SCAC while the Mountaineers fell to 15-14 and 4-9 SCAC. The remaining schedule for the series has been revised due to the possibility of inclement weather in the area on Saturday.
Game two will now begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday and the third and final game of the series will begin at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Centenary will honor its 2023 senior class following Sunday's game. The ceremony will also be live streamed. Live stats and live video are available for the final two games of the series via www.GoCentenary.com
Centenary and Schreiner are both battling for a berth into next month's SCAC Baseball Championship (May 5-7) in Cleburne, Texas. The Diamond Gents, the defending tournament champions, are currently fourth in the league standings and now two games ahead of the Mountaineers. The top four teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the event.
Centenary head coach Mike Diaz is now just two wins away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in program history. Diaz, currently in his 13th season, is 290-207-1, needs just a pair of wins to match former HC Ed McCann (1999-2010) and one to tie.
All-American sophomore LHP Tyler Herrera (Spring, Texas) started on the mound for Centenary and got the win. Herrera (4-4) went seven innings and allowed two runs, both earned, on just four hits with four walks and seven strikeouts. He faced 30 batters and threw 110 pitches (67 strikes). Senior RHP Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.) came on in relief and pitched two scoreless innings, holding the Mountaineers hitless on two walks and three K's. He faced eight batters and threw 44 pitches (26 strikes). He picked up his second save of the season and 15th of his career as he is now just two saves away from the all-time program record (17) in the division III era (2012-present).
Fito Mendez (2-5) started and suffered the loss for Schreiner as he allowed four runs, all earned, and five hits in 5.2 IP with three BB and one K. He faced 24 batters and threw 71 pitches (44 strikes). Konway Baird relieved him and worked the final 2.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on two hits with two BB and one K. He faced 11 batters, hitting one, and threw 41 pitches (24 strikes) and allowed one homer.
Centenary finished seven hits and drew five walks. The Diamond Gents only struck out twice, left five on base, and made two errors. Schreiner had half as many errors (2) as hits (4) in the game and struck out 10 times. The Mountaineers walked six times and left nine men on base.
Junior 2B Jobee Boone (Opelousas, La.) gave Centenary a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a one-out single that plated freshman LF Carson Livesay (Lafayette, La.) after he led off with a double. Schreiner took a 2-1 lead in the third with a pair of two-out runs. 1B Joseph DiCarlo singled home C Gerardo Cardoza to tie the game and DH Daniel Garza drove in 3B Devin Hooper for the lead. Herrera struck out CF Aidan Warren to end the inning.
Centenary tied the game in the fourth on a two-out sacrifice fly by freshman DH Lenny Forth (Flower Mound, Texas) to score sophomore RF Cade LaBruyere (Iowa, La.). The Diamond Gents then scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to break the tie and added two more in the seventh. LaBruyere drew a one-out walk in the sixth and went to second on a wild pitch. Freshman 1B Collin Pitts (Lufkin, Texas) then launched his first-career home run to give the Maroon and White a 4-2 lead.
Livesay started the seventh with a single and senior CF Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas) moved him to second base with a sacrifice bunt. Boone copied Pitts from an inning earlier as he hit his first-career homer to make it 6-2. Primeaux then entered the game and struck out the side. He walked the first two Mountaineers in the ninth but settled down and retired the three batters to strand two and seal the win.
Boone and Livesay went a combined 4-7 with three RBI and three runs scored to pace the Centenary offense. Pitts finished 1-4 with two RBI – his tie-breaking blast in the sixth. Cardoza was 2-5 with a run scored to lead the Schreiner offense. Friday marked the second time this season that the Diamond Gents have homered twice in a game after hitting a pair in an 11-0 win over nationally-ranked LaGrange on March 10.
Centenary is now 25-3 all-time against Schreiner and 15-1 all-time against them at Shehee Stadium. The Diamond Gents, 11-6 at home this season, are 44-14 on their home field since the beginning of the 2021 season.
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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