Shreveport – The Centenary baseball team fell 3-2 in its 2022 season opener to the Willamette University Bearcats on Saturday night on day one of the Gents Classic at a frigid Shehee Stadium.
Centenary (0-1) led 1-0 after four innings and 2-1 after seven on a night when temperatures dipped into the high 30's, but the Bearcats (2-0) scored a pair in the top of the eighth to steal the comeback win. Willamette defeated the East Texas Baptist University Tigers in the tournament opener in a wild 11-9 game in which the Bearcats fell behind 6-0 after one inning but scored seven runs on the final three innings to get the win.
The Diamond Gents, who are currently receiving votes (7) in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA preseason poll, suffered a rare home loss on Saturday as the Maroon and White are a remarkable 20-4 in their last 24 home games dating back to the beginning of last season.
Junior RHP Christian Diaz (Houston, Texas) made his Centenary debut on the mound on Saturday and received a no-decision after tossing five innings of one-hit ball and allowed one earned run with four walks and four strikeouts. He faced 22 batters and threw 89 pitches, 49 for strikes. Diaz did not allow a hit for the first five innings until Willamette SS Ethan Fischel singled with no outs in the top of the sixth inning. 3B Jeff Hoffman was hit by a pitch to open the inning and Fischel's base hit put two on and none out and Diaz was removed for junior RHP Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.).
Primeaux, coming off of a superb sophomore season, retired Samuel Daly on a fielder's choice for the first out of the inning, but CF Clint Walker delivered a game-tying single to score Hoffman. Tassos Foster sacrificed Walker and Daly to second and third and after a walk to DH Jonny Suchor to load the bases, Primeaux then buckled down and struck out C Cole Mosley to preserve the tie.
Primeaux got two quick outs to start the seventh and pitched around a double to Hoffman to get Fischel to pop out and end the inning. The Diamond Gents then took the lead in the bottom half as senior CF Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas) scored on an error by Hoffman when he threw wildly to first base, scoring freshman LF Cade LaBruyere (Iowa, La.) with the go-ahead run. Senior SS Brady Robinson (Jacksonville, Texas) grounded out to end the inning but the Diamond Gents regained the lead with six outs to go.
Primeaux got Daly looking on strikes to begin the inning but walked Walker and Foster singled to put runners at the corners. Foster then stole second and Suchor delivered a two-run single to left field to give the Bearcats the lead. Primeaux then struck out the final two batters of the inning.
Senior DH Tyler Welch (Lake Charles, La.) walked with one out and sophomore Christian Dennis (Shreveport. La.) pinch ran for him. Pruitt Spritzer entered the game for the Bearcats and he promptly threw an errant pick off throw which got away from first baseman Luke Werkmeister-Martin and allowed Dennis to scoot to third base. Spritzer, though, came up big as he struck out senior 3B Ben Bridges (Beckville, Texas) and got senior 2B Tyler Erickson (Houston, Texas) to pop out and end the inning.
The Bearcats went quietly in the top of the ninth and then the Gents had three more outs to try to tie or take the lead. Sophomore Julien DeLeon (Shreveport, La.) pinch-hit for senior RF Luke Royle (Dodge City, Kan.) to begin the inning and struck out swinging. Sophomore C Austyn Benoit (Welsh, La.) then grounded out and Spritzer struck out LaBruyere for the final out of the game.
Spritzer picked up the save as he went 1.2 innings and struck out three. He threw 22 pitches, 15 for strikes, and faced five batters. Erick Waldichuk (1-0) started for Willamette and went six innings, allowing four hits and one earned run with three walks and 11 strikeouts. Matt Pisacane relieved Waldichuk and went 1.1 innings and allowed one hit, an unearned run, with one walk and one strikeout before handling the ball over to Spritzer.
Waldichuk threw 103 pitches (66 for strikes) and faced 24 batters. Pisacane faced seven batters and tossed 29 pitches with 17 strikes. Primeaux (0-1) suffered the loss for the Gents as he went the final four innings and allowed four hits, two earned runs, and three walks with four K's. He threw 72 pitches, 39 for strikes, and faced 19 batters.
Each team finished with five hits and the Bearcats committed the games' only two errors. Willamette batters drew seven walks while the Diamond Gents earned four free passes. Centenary struck out 15 times and left seven men on base while Willamette went down on strikes eight times and left 11 on.
Robinson had a game-high three hits to lead the Centenary offense and Erickson and Benoit recorded the other two. Five different players each had one hit for Willamette and Walker and Suchor each drew two walks apiece. Robinson now has 18 multi-hit performances in his career and has recorded three hits in a game three times.
The Gents Classic continues on Sunday with three games. ETBU and Centenary begin the day at 11 a.m. followed by a rematch between ETBU and Willamette at approximately 2:30 p.m. and capped off by another contest between the Bearcats and Diamond Gents at approximately 6 p.m.
Centenary and ETBU will play the final game of the weekend tournament on Monday at 4 p.m.
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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