Shreveport – The Centenary baseball program has released its 2022 season schedule as the Diamond Gents will begin their regular season at home on Friday, Feb. 4 as they host the Gents Classic this weekend at Shehee Stadium.
Centenary is coming off one of its finest seasons in program history in 2021 as the Diamond Gents went 30-11 overall and 14-7 in Southern Collegiate Athletic conference play. The Maroon and White are currently receiving votes (7) in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA preseason poll, it was announced last week.
See the complete preseason poll here: https://www.d3baseball.com/top25/2022/2022Top25-week-0
The Diamond Gents will face Willamette University in their season opener on Friday, Feb. 4 at 4:30 p.m. The Bearcats are a fellow division III school located in Salem, Ore. The East Texas Baptist University Tigers join Centenary and Willamette for the weekend tournament and the Bearcats and Tigers will open the tournament schedule on Friday at 1 p.m.
Saturday's schedule features three games beginning with the Diamond Gents and ETBU facing each other at 11 a.m. Willamette and ETBU will meet for a second time at 2:30 p.m. and the Diamond Gents and Bearcats finish the day with a 6 p.m. contest. The tournament wraps up on Sunday with the Diamond Gents and Tigers squaring off at 2 p.m.
Centenary hits the road for the first time Feb. 11-13 to play in the Millsaps Tournament in Jackson, Miss. The Diamond Gents will face Huntingdon College on Friday, Feb. 11 at 11 a.m. and then MUW on Feb. 12 at 5 p.m. and will wrap up the weekend on Feb. 13 versus LaGrange.
The Maroon and White are then back home Feb. 20-21 to play host to Alma College for a four-game non-conference series. The Scots are a division III school located in Alma, Mich. The teams will play a pair of doubleheaders on Sunday, Feb. 20 (1 and 4 p.m.) and Monday, Feb. 21 (3 and 6 p.m.). Centenary then heads to California for seven games from Feb. 26 to March 6. The Diamond Gents then face the Millsaps Majors in a mid-week non-conference home game on Wednesday, March 9 at 5 p.m.
Centenary begins conference play at Texas Lutheran March 18-19 and faces Trinity March 25-26 in its first conference home series. The Diamond Gents finish the regular season at St. Thomas April 29-30. The Maroon and White are set to play 21 SCAC contests, nine at home and 12 on the road. The Diamond Gents will face Austin College and Southwestern at home in addition to Trinity and Dallas and Schreiner are the two other road series' in addition to visits to TLU and St. Thomas. The Diamond Gents are scheduled to play 18 home games during the regular season and 22 road/neutral contests.
The Diamond Gents won 30 games in a season for just the second time in the Division III era (2012-present) and 10th time in school history last season, and set a D3 era single-season record for home wins (17) and won their first 16 at Shehee Stadium. They swept five opponents at home last season and are 20-3 in their last 23 home games dating back to the beginning of last season.
Centenary also won a program-record 18-straight games from March 4-April 6 as the Maroon and White went unbeaten for six-consecutive weeks and at the time owned the longest winning streak in the nation in Division III. The Gents were ranked for eight straight weeks in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA poll and peaked at No. 14. Centenary secured the No. 4 seed in the 2021 SCAC Championship in Cleburne, Texas.
Mike Diaz enters his 12th season as head coach of the Gents in 2022 as his tenure has been marked by continued success and achievements. Diaz is entering his 18th season overall with the program as he was previously associate head coach from 2005-2010. He was named the SCAC Coach of the Year in 2021, winning the award for the fifth time in his career, and needs just one win to reach 250 in his superb career with the Maroon and White.
Centenary returns seven everyday starters and its top two pitchers this season as the Diamond Gents are poised to make another run at a conference title. Senior P/1B Preston Ludwick (Pflugerville, Texas) headlines the returnees as he was named the SCAC Pitcher of the Year and earned First-Team All-SCAC honors at first base as of the conference's most versatile and dynamic players. Ludwick was named to both the 2021 D3baseball.com West All-Region Second Team and the 2021 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Div. III West All-Region First Team as well as the 2021 Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) Men's College Baseball Team.
He led the conference in batting average, hits, RBI, and total bases and ranked in the top 10 in seven more individual statistical categories. He went 8-2 with a 4.09 ERA and led the conference in wins, strikeouts, and opposing batting average and ranked second in ERA and innings pitched. He made 12 appearances (12 starts) and tossed one complete game … He was a finalist for SCAC Hitter of the Year as he collected a team-high 65 hits, 49 RBI, and a .404 batting average.
Junior RHP Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.) is back as the Gents' primary closer after being named to the 2021 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Div. III West All-Region Team last season. Primeaux, who earned a spot on the second team, had a breakout sophomore season as he earned First-Team All-SCAC honors as a relief pitcher. He led the country in division III in saves with 10 and also led the conference in the category and led SCAC in ERA (3.22). In a team-high 27 appearances, Primeaux went 3-4 and in 64.1 innings pitched he allowed just 56 hits with only 23 earned runs. He struck out 58 batters and averaged 8.11 strikeouts per nine innings. He was named SCAC Pitcher of the Week on March 9.
Senior DH/OF Tyler Welch (Lake Charles, La.) is also back and will be one of the Gents' top offensive threats in 2022. He joined Ludwick and Primeaux on the 2021 D3baseball.com West All-Region Team as he earned a spot on the second team. Welch had a superb 2021 season for the Gents as he hit .383 with an on-base percentage of .430 and slugged .539. He collected 49 hits, scored 28 runs, had 28 RBI, and had 14 extra-base hits which included 10 doubles. In 128 at-bats he only struck out 10 times while drawing 13 walks. He recorded 17 multi-hit games and eight multi-RBI games. Welch earned a spot on the 2021 SCAC Championship All-Tournament Team as he went 5-9 at the plate in two games with three RBI, four runs scored, and four doubles.
2022 GENTS CLASSIC SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, Feb. 4:
ETBU VS. WILLAMETTE - 1 PM
WILLAMETTE VS. CENTENARY - 4:30 PM
SATURDAY, Feb. 5:
ETBU VS CENTENARY - 11 AM
WILLAMETTE VS ETBU - 2:30 PM
WILLAMETTE VS CENTENARY - 6 PM
SUNDAY, Feb. 6:
ETBU VS CENTENARY - 2 PM
*Live stats and live video with commentary will be available for all six games of the Gents Classic*
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2021-22/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests but be advised of current COVID-19 protocols for fans. Updated COVID-19 information is now available via www.GoCentenary.com.
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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