Cleburne, Texas- The No. 3 seed Centenary baseball team edged the No. 2 seed Texas Bulldogs 2-1 in a thrilling game on day one of the 2022 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship at The Depot at Cleburne Station.
Centenary (25-15) moves into the winners' bracket to face No. 1 seed Trinity (30-8) at Noon on Saturday. The top-seeded Bulldogs defeated No. 4 St. Thomas (17-24) 11-6 in the first game of the tournament. Texas Lutheran (28-13) will face St. Thomas in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
All games will be live streamed through the league's partnership with Sportsgram. Live stats are also available for all tournament games via www.scacsports.com.
The Diamond Gents won for the 11th time in 13 games and won their first SCAC Tournament game since 2018, snapping a five-game losing streak. Trinity is ranked 12th in the current D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 Poll while Texas Lutheran is receiving votes. Centenary improved to 2-2 versus TLU this season and went 1-2 versus Trinity during the regular season.
Freshman LHP Tyler Herrera (Spring, Texas) continued his stellar rookie season on Friday as he remained unbeaten (7-0) allowing just one earned run and six hits in his season-high 8.1 innings of work with a walk and four strikeouts. He held the Bulldogs scoreless until one out in the ninth when he gave up a solo home run to 2B Aric Vasquez. Junior RHP Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.) relived Herrera and got the last two outs for his third save of the season.
Herrera was honored before the game on the field as he was named both the SCAC Freshman of the Year and the SCAC Pitcher of the Year. His win marks the first time since 2016 the Pitcher of the Year has also earned a victory on the opening day of the tournament. TLU's Nathan Malinovsky was the last pitcher to achieve that with a win over Southwestern.
Centenary jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as senior 1B Preston Ludwick (Pflugerville, Texas) launched a two-out home run off the scoreboard in left field. Herrera held the powerful Bulldogs' lineup in check but ran into trouble in the seventh. After DH Alec Sanchez grounded out to begin the inning, Vasquez lined a ball to left center that Centenary CF Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas) misjudged as it landed in front of him and took an unconventional hop over Hewitt's head without touching him. The ball rolled to the wall as Vasquez raced to third with a triple.
With the tying run 90 feet away, Herrera dug in and struck out RF Blade Strzelczyk for the second out and retired CF Payton Dahl on a groundout to escape the threat as he fist-pumped leaving the mound and was greeted by a congratulatory dugout.
TLU LF Blake Cappadona walked to lead off the eighth but Herrera got back to back flyouts. SS Joe Jimenez, named the Offensive Player of the Year prior to the game, singled as Cappadona advanced to third. With the tying run just 90 feet away for the second-consecutive inning, Herrera got 1B Tyler Post to ground out to first as Ludwick stepped on the bag as Centenary clung to its slim lead once again.
Senior DH Tyler Erickson (Houston, Texas) singled to lead off the ninth inning and sophomore OF Christian Dennis (Shreveport) pinch ran for him. Freshman RF Cade LaBruyere (Iowa, La.) laid down a sacrifice bunt to move to Dennis to second as the Diamond Gents looked to add an insurance run. Junior 2B Cole Collins (Shreveport, La.) ripped a single to center and as it appeared that Dennis may attempt to score, Collins went for second but was thrown out although it appeared he slid in safely ahead of the tag. Dennis, though, was at third base with two outs as Centenary was eager for its second run. Facing an 0-2 count, Hewitt came up with a clutch single through the right side to make it 2-0.
Sanchez struck out to start the bottom of the ninth inning and then Vasquez got the Bulldogs on the board with a solo shot to left. Centenary head coach Mike Diaz made the call to the bullpen as Herrera left the mound to a well-deserved standing ovation from the Centenary fans in attendance. Primeaux got Strzelczyk swinging for the second out but then Dahl reached on an error by Collins to keep the pressure on. Cappadona, though, flew out to left field for the final out as Centenary earned its seventh one-run win of the season.
Centenary finished with 12 hits as Hewitt led the way with a 3-4 effort with an RBI. Collins, Ludwick, and senior Tyler Welch (Pineville, La.) each had two hits and Erickson, LaBuyere, and senior C Ben Bridges (Beckville, Texas) each had one.
TLU starter Joe Burch took the loss to fall to 7-4 but pitched well. He went 8.2 innings and allowed just two earned runs with a walk and seven K's. He scattered the 12 hits as he was able to work out of several jams. Centenary hit into a pair of double plays and had the Diamond Gents were caught stealing twice which enabled the Bulldogs to stay in the game.
For more information on the 2022 SCAC Baseball Tournament, click here for the official website.
See the complete Diamond Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2021-22/schedule
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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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