San Antonio- The Centenary baseball team was edged 8-7 by the University of Texas at Dallas Comets on Friday afternoon in a non-conference contest played at Trinity University.
The Diamond Gents (5-6) lost their second game in a row to the Comets (10-3) after dropping a 5-3 decision in 11 innings in their home opener on Tuesday at Shehee Stadium. The teams will play again on Saturday at 11 a.m. and Centenary will then face Trinity at 3 p.m. in its final game of the weekend. The Tigers (6-3) and Comets will play on Friday evening at 7 p.m. Trinity is currently ranked 17th nationally in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll.
Centenary took a 1-0 lead after its first at-bat as senior SS Jobee Boone (Opelousas, La.) delivered a one-out RBI single to score sophomore 3B Clay Menard (Berwick, La.). The Diamond Gents had the bases loaded after Boone's hit but Comets' SP Dylan Collins got senior C Jake Gonce (Katy, Texas) to ground into an inning-ending double play as Centenary had to settle for just one run.
Junior LHP Tyler Herrera (Spring, Texas) started for Centenary on the mound and tossed two scoreless innings before running into trouble in the third. He allowed three-consecutive singles to load the bases and then got RF Luke Finn to ground to Menard at third who threw home to Gonce for the force out. 3B Dylan Bivins, though, belted a grand slam to right field to put the Comets up 4-1. DH Grayson Coltharp had an RBI single and SS Efren Munoz added one of his own for a 6-1 lead. Herrera got two flyouts to end the inning but the damage was done.
Herrera pitched two scoreless innings in the fourth and fifth and then was replaced by sophomore P Jordan Hodges (Longview, Texas) with two outs in the sixth and picked off Finn to end the inning. Herrera received a no-decision as he worked 5.2 innings and allowed six runs, all earned, and 12 hits with two walks and two strikeouts. He faced 30 batters while throwing 99 pitches (58 strikes).
Senior RF Austyn Benoit (Welsh, La.) brought sophomore CF Collin Pitts (Lufkin, Texas) home on an RBI groundout in the sixth to make it 6-2 and then after a scoreless seventh for both teams, the Diamond Gents erupted for five runs in the top of the eighth to take a 7-6 lead.
Jake Jennings, who came in for Collins with one out in the seventh, and retired the final two batters, gave way to Dylan Hugley to start the eighth. Benoit singled and went to second on a wild pitch and freshman Miles Keith (Lindale, Texas) walked. Freshman 2B Braeden Morse (Pearland, Texas) then singled to load the bases with just one out. Menard ripped a single through the left side to score Benoit and Keith to cut Centenary's deficit to 6-4.
Sophomore LF Carson Livesay (Lafayette, La.) then singled to score Morse to make it 6-5. Freshman 1B Alex Miller (Cypress, Texas) then crushed a double to the left-centerfield gap to score Menard with the game-tying run. Pitts grounded to short but then Hugley uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Livesay to score and the Diamond Gents took a 7-6 lead. Boone grounded out to short but five runs and five hits later, Centenary had taken the lead.
Sophomore RHP Jacob Broussard (Houston, Texas) entered the game on the mound for Hodges in the bottom of the eighth and promptly walked Coltharp. Munoz laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved the tying run into scoring position. Broussard then fanned CF Jaeger Self for the second out. LF Lucas Rexin, though, drew a walk and then Broussard's wild pitch allowed pinch-runner Brayshon Savage to score and tie the game at 7-7. 2B Albert Garza blooped a double between Livesay and Boone to score Rexin and give the Comets an 8-7 lead.
Ben Price relieved Hugley and retired the Diamond Gents in order, as he got Gonce to ground to third, retired Benoit on a pop out, and struck out Keith swinging to close it out and earn his first save of the season. Hugley got the win to improve to 2-0 despite allowing five earned runs on five hits with a walk and no strikeouts and Broussard was tagged with the loss to fall to 0-3. He allowed two runs, both earned, and one hit with two walks and a strikeout in an inning. He faced six batter and threw 29 pitches – 13 strikes. Collins, the Comets' starter, went 6.1 innings and allowed two runs, both earned, with eight hits and five walks with a pair of strikeouts. He faced 30 batters and threw 97 pitches (58 strikes).
Each team banged out 13 hits and the Diamond Gents made the only error in the game. Centenary drew six walks, struck out three times, stole three bases, and left 10 on base. UT-Dallas walked four times, struck out four times, left seven on base, and stole one bag. Centenary has posted at least 10 hits in all but one of its games so far this season.
Pitts was 3-5 with a run scored, Menard finished 2-4 with two RBI, two runs scored, and a walk, Livesay went 2-4 with an RBI, a run scored, a walk, and two stolen bases, and Boone was 2-5 with an RBI. Benoit went 2-4 with an RBI, a run scored, and a walk, Miller was 1-4 with an RBI and a stolen base, and Morse finished 1-4 with a run scored. Keith walked twice and scored a run. Five Comets collected at least two hits and Bivins drove in a game-high four with his third-inning grand slam.
See the complete Diamond Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2023-24/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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