La Verne Calif. – The Centenary baseball team finished off its five-game road trip to California on Sunday with a 10-7 non-conference victory over the University of La Verne Leopards in eight innings at Ben Hines Field.
The Gents (9-4) finished 2-3 overall on the week-long trip, falling to Cal Lutheran last Wednesday, Occidental on Friday, and splitting a doubleheader with Whittier on Saturday before Sunday's win. The Gents scored 13 runs against Whittier in game one of Saturday's DH and with the 10 scored Sunday the Gents have scored double digits runs five times this season.
La Verne jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after one inning which featured a lengthy rain delay and added a single run in the bottom of the third to lead 5-0. But the Centenary offense came alive in the top of the fourth and tied the game with five runs of its own. Junior Tyler Erickson (Houston, Texas) got the Gents on the scoreboard with an RBI single and then after the Gents got their second run on a balk with the bases loaded, sophomore left fielder Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas) delivered a two-run double to cut the lead to 5-4. Junior short stop Peyton Cormane (Pineville, La.) tied the game with an RBI double to cap the big inning.
The Leopards regained the lead with a single run in the bottom of the fourth but then Centenary immediately responded with a pair of runs in the fifth. Junior designated hitter Tyler Welch (Pineville, La.) and catcher Ben Bridges (Beckville, Texas) had RBI singles to make it a 7-6 Centenary lead. La Verne tied the game in the bottom of the seventh but then Hewitt struck again with one of the biggest hits to date this season for the Gents as he roped a bases-loaded triple down the left field line to break the tie and give Centenary a 10-7 lead.
Junior Connor Cudd (Lake Charles, La.) picked up the win in relief for the Gents to move to 1-1 on the season as he pitched the final five innings and allowed just one unearned run on two hits with one walk and no strikeouts. Junior right-hander Andy Purpura (Bozeman, Mont.) started and allowed six runs (two earned) on eight hits in three innings. He did not record a strikeout and did not walk a batter and threw 55 pitches. Brenden Bergen (0-2) took the loss in relief for La Verne as he allowed two runs, one earned, and one hit in two innings of work with one walk and one strikeout. Ben Aguilera started for the Leopards and went 3.2 innings allowing three unearned runs and two hits with one walk and a pair of strikeouts.
Centenary collected 11 hits on Sunday led by three apiece from Bridges and Hewitt and two from Cormane. Hewitt's five RBI were a career-high for a single game for the Texas native and ties for the third-most in a game by a Gent in the last nine seasons. La Verne left fielder Brandon Shiota led the way for the Leopards on offense going 3-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
The Gents will face Louisiana College again in a makeup game on Monday, March 9 in Pineville (game originally scheduled for Feb. 14) and open SCAC play at home March 13-14 against Trinity for a three-game series.
A link to the complete 2020 schedule can be found here: www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2019-20/schedule
Live stats and live video are available for all home games and admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic events. #GoCentenary #CTheOpportunity
