Baseball Splits DH On Final Day Of Regular Season

Shreveport - The Centenary baseball team split a doubleheader in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday against the nationally-ranked Trinity University Tigers, winning in run-rule fashion 14-3 in game one and falling 5-1 in game two as the teams completed the regular season at Shehee Stadium.

The Diamond Gents (19-17, 13-7 SCAC) lost two of three in the series after falling 6-3 on Friday night in the opener to the Tigers (30-10, 16-5 SCAC) in a battle of two of the conference's top teams. Centenary honored its 2024 senior class following the second game on Saturday.

Centenary finished 8-4 at home this season while Trinity ends its season with a 9-4 road record. Trinity was the preseason pick to win the conference with Centenary predicted to finish second. Trinity entered the series ranked ninth in the latest D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll and 11^th in the American Baseball Coaches Association NCAA Div. III Coaches Poll.

Game one recap: Centenary 14 Trinity 3 (7 innings)

Each team scored three runs apiece in the first inning as it looked as if a slugfest was unfolding, but those three runs would be the Tigers' final ones of the game while the Diamond Gents kept scoring and ran away for a laugher in game one of the doubleheader.

Centenary tied its season high in runs and posted 10+ hits in game for the 23^rd time this season. The Diamond Gents drew a season-best 13 walks, had three extra-base hits, stole two bases, only struck out three times, made two errors and left 13 men on base. Trinity finished with just five hits, walked four times, struck out four times, made one error, swiped two bases, and left six on base.

The Diamond Gents took the lead in the third with a single run and exploded for seven runs in the fourth to take an 11-3 lead and added three more in the fifth to cruise to the win. Senior P Blaine Hardy (Shreveport, La.) started on the mound and allowed three runs, all earned, and five hits in his six innings of work with four walks and two strikeouts. He faced 27, hitting one and throwing one wild pitch, and finished with 114 pitches (68 strikes). Junior LHP Tyler Herrera (Spring, Texas) pitched a scoreless inning and struck out a pair. He threw 16 pitches (10 strikes) to the three batters he faced.

Trajan Lee started for the Tigers and received a no-decision as he lasted just 0.2 innings and was charged with three runs, all earned, on no hits with for BB and no K. He faced seven batters, hitting one, and threw 34 pitches and only 11 for strikes. Sheppard Tyler (0-1) followed and took the loss as he worked four innings and allowed one unearned run and two hits with four BB and one K. Five fellow relievers followed and combined to allow 10 earned runs, nine hits, five BB, and one homer.

Sophomore LF Carson Livesay (Lafayette, La.) had a game-high four RBI to pace the Centenary offense as he belted a grand slam and finished 1-3 with two runs and two BB as he homered for the second-straight game after a solo HR on Friday night. Freshman 1B Alex Miller (Cypress, Texas) was 2-3 with a double, three RBI, a BB, a stolen base and a run scored and senior C Jake Gonce (Katy, Texas) was 3-4 with two RBI, three runs scored and a BB.

Senior SS Jobee Boone (Opelousas, La.) finished 2-4 with an RBI, a BB, and a run scored, sophomore 3B Clay Menard (Berwick, La.) was 0-3 but walked twice, stole base, and scored a run and senior RF Austyn Benoit (Welsh, La.) went 1-3 with two BB and a run scored. Sophomore CF Collin Pitts (Lufkin, Texas) finished 0-3 but scored a run, freshman DH Walker Wicklund (Shreveport, La.) was 1-1 with three BB, two runs scored, and an RBI sacrifice fly. Freshman 3B Gage Morris (Livingston, Texas) went 1-2 with two RBI, two runs scored, and a BB.

2B Colt Harris finished 1-2 for the Tigers with an RBI and a run scored and had an RBI single in the top of the first to give Trinity a 1-0 lead. DH Christian Holloway's sac fly made it 2-0 and 3B Kai Tinker's RBI groundout made it 3-0. RF Maddox McDonald was 0-2 with a BB, CF Jack Peterson finished 1-2 with a BB and a run scored, LF Kaleb Woodward was 1-4 was 1-3 with a run scored, and SS Jack Baker went 1-2 with a BB.

The bottom of the first inning began very quietly as Livesay popped up and Menard lined out for two quick outs against Lee, but Miller was hit by a pitch and Benoit walked. A passed ball moved both runners into scoring position and Wicklund drew a walk of his own to load the bases with two outs. Boone drew a bases-loaded walk as did Gonce as Lee was replaced by Tyler after a miserable finish to the inning with as he failed to retire the final five batters he faced. Tyler walked Morris to score Wicklund and tie the game but retired Pitts on a strikeout to end the nightmare inning and keep the game deadlocked at 3-3.

A two-out error by Baker allowed a run to score in the third to give Centenary a 4-3 lead and then RBI singles in the fourth by Gonce and Morris coupled with a sac fly by Wicklund and Livesay's slam made it 11-3. Miller ripped a bases-loaded double in the fifth to score three and make it 14-3.

Game two recap: Trinity 5 Centenary 1

The Tigers salvaged a split of the DH with their game-two win, banging out 11 hits and rode the strong arm of starting pitcher and ace Jackson Teer (7-1). Trinity walked four times, struck out five times, did not commit an error, stole one base, and left 10 on base. Centenary had six hits, walked once, struck out seven times, made two errors, left five on base, and stole two bases.

Sophomore RHP Aidan Reichek (Bellaire, Texas) started for Centenary and took the loss to fall to 2-2 on the season as he allowed three runs (two earned) and six hits in 3.2 innings of work. He walked one, hit a batter, and struck out one, facing 18 batters and throwing 64 pitches – 37 strikes.

Junior LHP Tyler Herrera (Spring, Texas) came in for Reichek and pitched three innings and allowed two runs, both earned and five hits with two BB, two K's, and one home run allowed. He faced 16 batters, threw a wild pitch, and finished with 60 pitches thrown with 34 for strikes. Sophomore RHP Jacob Broussard (Houston, Texas) pitched the final 2.1 innings and did not allow a run or a hit with one BB and two K's. He faced eight batters and threw 36 pitches – 23 for strikes.

Teer nearly went the distance before giving way to Jonathan Newman for the final two outs. Teer went 8.1 innings and allowed one earned run and six hits with one BB and seven K's. He faced 31 batters, hitting one batter, and threw 125 pitches – 76 strikes. Teer retired Miller on a flyout to start the bottom of the ninth and hit Benoit with a pitch and was replaced by Newman who needed just three pitches to retire Wicklund on a pop up and Boone on a groundout to seal the win.

Centenary scored first in the game as Miller reached on a fielder's choice RBI to score Livesay for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. LF Ty Preston's RBI double in the second scored Holloway and tied the game and Preston doubled in the fourth which scored Baker and Preston advanced to third on an error by Boone and then scored on a throwing error by Reichek to make it 3-1. Harris hit a solo homer off of Herrera in the seventh and Preston had an RBI single later in the inning to make it 5-1.

Menard and Morris were a combined 4-7 and Morris stole a base and Livesay finished 1-3 with a run scored and a BB. Boone was 1-4 and Miller finished 0-4 with his fielder's choice RBI and stole a base.

Preston finished 3-4 with three RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base and Tinker and Holloway were a combined 4-7 with two BB and two runs scored. Harris was 1-5 with an RBI and a run scored, Baker went 1-4 with a run scored and C Mattias Rytting was 1-3 with a BB.

Looking Ahead:

The 2024 SCAC Baseball Tournament is scheduled for May 3-5 in Cleburne, Texas. Centenary has appeared in the SCAC Championship game five times in its history, winning it twice and finishing as runner-up in 2013, 2015, and 2018. The top four teams in the standings at the conclusion of the regular season qualify for the 2024 SCAC Tournament. *Trinity, Centenary, Southwestern, and Texas Lutheran have qualified for the tournament*

Current Standings:

1 Trinity 30-10, 16-5 SCAC

2 Centenary 19-17, 13-7 SCAC

3 Southwestern 23-17, 13-8 SCAC

4 Texas Lutheran 23-15, 12-9 SCAC

5 St. Thomas 15-24, 10-11 SCAC

6 Dallas 21-14, 9-10 SCAC

7 Schreiner 10-27, 5-14 SCAC

8 Austin College 11-27, 3-17 SCAC

Sunday's Schedule:

Schreiner at Dallas

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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