Georgetown, Texas- The No. 14 Centenary baseball team lost for the first time in nearly six weeks and had its program record and nation's longest winning streak snapped on Friday night as the Gents fell to the Southwestern Pirates by a score of 9-7 in the opener of a three-game weekend Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference series at The Rockwell Family Baseball Field.
The teams will wrap up the series on Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled for 1 and 4 p.m. Live stats and live video are available for the games at the links below:
Stats: https://www.southwesternpirates.com/sports/m-basebl/2020-21/boxscores/20210409_2o3h.xml
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KqCyMx09Eo
The Gents (24-3, 9-1 SCAC) entered Friday's play ranked No. 14 in the nation in the latest 2021 D3baseball.com/NCBWA poll and were riding the longest winning streak in the country in division III at an astounding 18 games, an all-time school record.
Centenary, which had beaten the East Texas Baptist University Tigers in a non-conference game, 10-8, in 10 innings in Marshall, Texas on Tuesday, lost its first game since falling 8-5 at Huntingdon back on Feb. 28. Southwestern improved to 10-12 overall and 7-3 in conference play with the win.
The Gents are still an impressive 33-7 in their last 40 games dating back to last season and are 10-2 on the road this season with their only other loss coming to Belhaven, 5-0, in Jackson, Miss. back on Feb. 20.
Centenary fell behind 7-0 to the Pirates on Friday but did not go away quietly as the Maroon and White scored three runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to cut Southwestern's lead to 7-6. The Pirates, though, added a run in the bottom of the sixth to make it an 8-6 game and after the Gents scored in the top of the seventh to make it 8-7, the Pirates scored again in the home half of the seventh to make it 9-7. Neither team scored over the next two innings as Centenary's comeback fell short, handing them a rare loss.
Centenary, held to just six hits, was led by senior catcher Tyler Erickson (Houston, Texas) with two hits. Erickson, the conference and team leader in hits, went 2-5. Senior RF Cody Crowder (Shepherd, Texas) was 1-3 with two RBI and a run scored, the 167th run scored in his superb career which is a new division III era (2012-present) career record. Crowder added a triple, a walk, and a stolen base. Junior SS Brady Robinson (Jacksonville, Texas) went 1-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. He added a double and a stolen base.
Senior P/1B Preston Ludwick (Pflugerville, Texas) started on the mound and suffered his first loss of the season to fall to 6-1 as he was uncharacteristically wild in his 2.2 innings pitched. Ludwick, who entered the game leading the conference in wins and second in ERA (1.98) allowed seven runs, all earned, but only allowed four hits. He walked six and struck out six, throwing 72 pitches and 43 for strikes. He went 1-4 at the plate with an RBI, a walk, and a run scored.
Senior Andy Purpura (Bozeman, Mont.) relieved Ludwick and allowed a hit and walked one and struck out one in a third of an inning. Senior Connor Cudd (Lake Charles, La.) was next in line and pitched well, going 3.1 innings and allowed just two runs, one earned, on two hits with no walks and two K's.
Sophomore RHP Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.) was the fourth and final pitcher of the night for the Gents as he pitched 1.2 innings and allowed just a single hit and struck out three.
Southwestern starter Travis Harvey (3-1) got the win as he allowed six runs, four earned, in 5.2 innings on four hits. He walked four and struck out five. Trey Schwarz relieved Harvey and picked up his second save as he went the final 3.1 innings and allowed just an unearned run on two hits with no walks and three K's. Each team left eight men on base and Southwestern hurt themselves with four errors. Centenary left the bases loaded twice.
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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