Marshall, Texas - The No. 14 Centenary baseball team needed extra innings to extend its program-record and current nation's longest winning streak on Tuesday night as the Gents held off the East Texas Baptist University Tigers in a non-conference game, 10-8, in 10 innings at Woods Field.
The Gents (24-2) moved up to No. 14 in the nation in the latest 2021 D3baseball.com/NCBWA poll announced on Tuesday morning and have now won a program-record 18th game in a row. The 18-game streak is tops in the nation in division III, four better than Washington University (St. Louis), who has won 14 in a row.
Centenary defeated the Tigers (16-10) for the third time this season after a 7-4 home in on Feb. 12 and a 13-5 victory in Marshall on March 23.
Centenary is now a stellar 33-6 in its last 39 games dating back to last season and has not lost a game since falling 8-5 at Huntingdon back on Feb. 28. The Gents have now scored 10 or more runs 13 times this season and improved to 3-0 in extra-innings games this season.
The Gents tied the previous longest winning streak of 16 games on Friday with a doubleheader sweep over Dallas at home, winning 5-1 and 12-5. Centenary then set a new record last Saturday with its 17th-straight win, an 8-4 victory to improve to 9-0 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play.
The 2017 Gents squad held the previous record for longest winning streak (16) and went on to win 35 games and make the NCAA Tournament. Centenary is now just 11 wins away from tying that overall mark with 14 regular-season games remaining.
Centenary took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as senior third baseman Chris Haggard (Lake Charles, La.) led off the game with a solo home run, his third of the season. The Gents then added four more runs with two outs in the top of the fourth to extend their lead to 5-0.
Junior catcher Ben Bridges (Beckville, Texas) singled home senior 2B Tyler Erickson (Houston, Texas) who had doubled and then senior John Beaudion (Houston, Texas) delivered a three-run home run, his second of the season. The Tigers got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a single run but then the Gents scored a pair in the top of the seventh to extend their lead to 7-1.
Sophomore DH Cole Collins (Shreveport) hit his first-career home run, going deep to lead off the seventh. Centenary played more long ball two batters later as junior SS Brady Robinson (Jacksonville, Texas) homered, his third of the season. Collins, inserted into a starting role at second base/DH within the last week is now 6-18 over the last six games with six RBI, three runs scored, three doubles, a homer, two walks, and a stolen base.
The Tigers scored a run in the bottom half of the seventh to make it 7-2 but the lead seemed safe entering the final two innings. ETBU 3B Zachary McAdams hit a two-out, two-run homer off of Centenary reliever senior Andy Purpura (Bozeman, Mont.) to make it 7-4 and set the stage for a wild ninth inning.
Centenary late-inning specialist, sophomore Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.), relieved Purpura and uncharacteristically ran into immediate trouble as he allowed hits to the first two batters he faced. After an error on a sacrifice allowed a run to score and make it 7-5, Primeaux hit a batter to load the bases with no outs. SS Jake Miller and DH Carson Wilson delivered back-to-back sacrifice flies to tie the game but Primeaux got 1B Jase Jones to ground out to end the threat and send the game to extras.
The Gents quickly shook off the rally by the Tigers that tied the game as they loaded the bases with no outs on a pair of errors and an infield single by senior CF Cody Crowder (Shepherd, Texas). Senior 1B/P Preston Ludwick (Pflugerville, Texas) then hit a bases-clearing double to put Centenary up 10-7. The Tigers got an unearned run with two outs but Primeaux struck out a pair to earn his third victory of the season, improving to 3-1. Blake Corbin, the Tigers' sixth pitcher of the game, suffered the loss to fall to 0-4 on the season.
Freshman Jacob Colby (Kingwood, Texas) started on the mound for the Maroon and White and was solid in his four innings of work as he allowed just one unearned run and three hits with three walks. Purpura relieved him and pitched the next four innings, allowing three runs, all earned, on three hits with a walk and three K's. Rece Gustafson started for ETBU and allowed five runs, all earned, and six hits in four innings of work. He did not walk a batter and struck out two and allowed two homers.
Collins, Ludwick, and Robinson each had two hits and Beaudion and Ludwick each drove in three runs. Collins, Haggard, and Robinson also each scored two runs. Centenary had 11 hits for the game.
Centenary returns to conference play this weekend as the Gents hit the road to face Southwestern in a three-game weekend series beginning on Friday, April 9 at 6 p.m. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 and 4 p.m.
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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