Marshall, Texas- The Centenary baseball team will step out of conference play on Tuesday evening as the Gents face the East Texas Baptist University Tigers with first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. at Woods Field.
Live stats will be available for the game at this link: https://goetbutigers.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
The Tigers (12-5, 7-2 American Southwest Conference) swept Hardin-Simmons on the road this past weekend and are riding a five-game winning streak. The Gents and ETBU faced each other at Shehee Stadium last month as Centenary picked up a 7-4 win.
The Gents (16-2,3-0 SCAC) remained red hot on the season with a dominating three-game series sweep over Austin College on the road this past weekend in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference action. The Gents won 15-10 last Friday in the series opener and then swept a DH on Saturday in convincing fashion, winning 13-4 and 16-1 in seven innings.
Centenary is off to its best start in the division III era (2012-present) and are ranked No. 25 in the latest 2021 D3baseball.com/NCBWA Week 4 poll, with the new rankings set to come out today. The Gents have now won 25 of their last 31 games overall going back to the start of last season and the Maroon and White continued their astonishing offensive output over the weekend, scoring at least 13 runs in all three wins over the 'Roos and 44 in all.
The similarities so far between the current Gents team and the spectacular 2017 NCAA Tournament group are striking. The 2017 Gents were 15-3 after 18 games this the current Gents team is one game ahead of their pace. Interestingly, that team also swept Austin College on the road in mid-March to stand at 16-3 and 3-0 in the SCAC to extend its winning streak to nine. Centenary would then sweep its next two conference opponents and win a mid-week non-conference game to extend its winning streak to 16 games.
The Gents have now scored 10 or more runs in a game 10 times this season, and 11 or more eight times and have done so seven times during their current 10-game winning streak. Centenary has now scored 15 runs in a game three times this season and its 161 runs are second-most in the country in all of division III. Centenary is hitting a stellar .350 as a team with a .447 on-base percentage and is slugging .474. The Gents are averaging 8.9 runs per game this season and a whopping 10.4 per game during their current 10-game winning streak. The Gents' team batting average ranks 21st in the country in division III and they are currently 32nd in OBP.
One of the main catalysts for the powerful Centenary offense has been senior Tyler Erickson (Houston, Texas) who is hitting a team-high .452 this season with an OBP of .518 and he is slugging .521. He has a team-leading 33 hits, has scored 18 runs, and has 17 RBI. He also has four extra-base hits and has only struck out four times all season with four walks.
Senior right-fielder Cody Crowder (Shepherd, Texas) had a sensational weekend as he hit .417 (5-12) in the three games with eight RBI, seven runs scored, four walks, and four stolen bases. He also had a pair of doubles to give him 53 for his career, which is the most in the division III era (2012-present) and he is hitting .368 on the season with an on-base percentage of .517 and is slugging .647. Crowder has also hit two home runs, has 19 RBI, 25 runs scored, and eight stolen bases.
Junior Ben Bridges (Beckville, Texas) leads the team and the conference in RBI with 26. He is batting .329 this season with a .424 OBP and is slugging .471. He went a sizzling 6-15 in the sweep last weekend over the 'Roos with nine RBI, three doubles, two runs scored, two walks, and a stolen base. He has eight multi-hit games this season and has done so in three straight games and six of his last 10.
Senior pitcher/first baseman Preston Ludwick (Pflugerville, Texas) is having another superb season at the plate and on the mound. He is batting .380 (.482 OBP/.479 Slugging) with 27 hits, 23 runs scored, 22 RBI, and five extra-base hits including a homer. He is also the team leader in wins (four) and ERA (1.88) this season as he has anchored the Gents' pitching staff. He also has one complete game shutout to his credit. Ludwick has struck out a team-high 29 batters in 28.2 IP.
Junior Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas) is hitting .382 on the season (.482 OBP/456 slugging) with 26 hits, 21 runs scored, 16 RBI and a team-best nine stolen bases. Hewitt had a fantastic weekend against Austin College as he went 6-11 at the plate with four RBI, six runs scored, three walks, three stolen bases, and a walk.
Senior pitcher Conner Poche (Lutcher, La.) is off to an impressive 3-0 start with a microscopic 0.53 ERA, fellow senior Connor Cudd (Lake Charles, La.) is 2-0 with a 3.12 ERA, and senior left-handed pitcher Connor Lee (Sugarland, Texas) is 3-1 in seven starts. Sophomore Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.) is 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA and a team-high three saves.
Centenary resumes SCAC play at home this weekend as the Gents welcome Schreiner to Shehee Stadium for a three-game series and the start of a six-game homestand as Dallas comes to town April 2-3 for a three-game series.
A link to the Gents' complete 2021 schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2020-21/schedule
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