Los Angeles - The Centenary baseball team completed a three-game series sweep of the Occidental College Tigers with a pair of convincing wins on Saturday in a non-conference doubleheader by scores of 14-5 in game one and 13-3 in game two at Anderson Field.

The Diamond Gents (5-3) extended their winning streak to four games while the Tigers dropped to 3-8. Centenary won the series opener on Friday, 6-5. Centenary pounded the Tigers' pitching staff for 34 hits on Saturday and finished with a whopping 44 hits and 33 runs in the series. The Diamond Gents have posted at least 10 hits in all eight of their games this season after doing so 22 times last season.

Game one recap: Centenary 14 Occidental 5

The Diamond Gents pounded six Tigers' pitchers for 14 hits and scored in seven innings and 11 over the final six innings. Centenary drew five walks, stole two bases, struck out four times, left 12 on base, and did not commit an error. The Tigers had seven hits, walked three times, struck out five times, left three on base, and made one error.

Junior LHP Tyler Herrera (Spring, Texas) started and picked up the win to improve to 1-1 on the season as he pitched six innings and allowed five runs, all earned, and seven hits with a walk and four strikeouts. He faced 25 batters, allowed three home runs, and threw 97 pitches – 60 for strikes. Junior P Zachary Malone (Hallsville, Texas) followed Herrera and pitched one inning. He allowed no runs and no hits with one walk and one strikeout and gave way to sophomore RHP Aidan Reichek (Bellaire, Texas) who pitched a scoreless inning and freshman P Logan Schmidt (Pearland, Texas) pitched a scoreless ninth and allowed just one walk.

Matthew Uytioco (0-1) was charged with the loss as he was the second of six Occidental pitchers. Patrick Connolly started and went 1.1 innings and allowed three runs, all earned, with a walk but did not allow a hit. He walked three batters of the eight he faced and threw 22 pitches (10 strikes). Uytioco came in with one out in the second and wound up lasting three innings as he was charged with three runs, all earned, and five hits with a walk and four strikeouts. He faced 15 batters and threw 60 pitches – 36 for strikes. The final four Tigers' pitchers of the game allowed a combined eight earned runs and nine hits with three walks and no strikeouts. Six Centenary batters were hit by pitches in the game.

Sophomore 3B Clay Menard (Berwick, La.) and senior SS Jobee Boone (Opelousas, La.) each had three hits to pace the Centenary offense and sophomore CF Collin Pitts (Lufkin, Texas) and sophomore DH Lenny Forth (Flower Mound, Texas) each collected two hits. Freshman 1B Alex Miller (Cypress, Texas) finished 1-4 with two runs scored and a walk, senior RF Austyn Benoit (Welsh, La.) was 1-4 with an RBI and two runs, and senior C Jake Gonce (Katy, Texas) went 1-2 with three RBI and two runs scored. Freshman 2B Braeden Morse (Pearland, Texas) finished 1-4 with two RBI.

Occidental scored first as RF Jeffery Cambra grounded out in the bottom of the first to drive in a run for a 1-0 lead. Gonce was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the second inning to produce the first Centenary run and Morse doubled home a pair to make it 3-1. Herrera allowed back-to-back homers in the second to tie the game at 3-3, but the Maroon and White scored the game's next four runs to take a 7-3 lead. Ryan Cacatian's second home run of the game, a two-run shot in the fifth, cut the centenary lead to 7-5 but those were the final two runs the Tigers scored for the game. The Diamond Gents scored one in the sixth, two in the seventh, three more in the eighth, and one in the ninth to cruise to the win.

Game two recap: Centenary 13 Occidental 3

Centenary continued its offensive onslaught in the second half of the DH, hammering five Occidental pitchers for a season-best 20 hits. The Diamond Gents held a 3-1 lead after three innings but piled on late, scoring 10 runs in their final three at-bats as they had six players finish with multi-hit games.

Senior P Blaine Hardy (Shreveport, La.) started on the mound for Centenary and picked up his first-career win. He went seven innings and allowed just one earned run on five hits with four walks and seven strikeouts. He faced 28 batters, hitting one, and threw 91 pitches, 57 for strikes. Sophomore RHP Aidan Reichek (Bellaire, Texas) came on in relief of Hardy in the eighth and gave up two singles, including an RBI single to Cacatian with a walk and was removed for sophomore Royce Congi (Houston, Texas) with one out. He got a strikeout and allowed an RBI double to 3B Jackson Short, but retired SS Sancho Llamas on a ground out to end the inning.

Sophomore LF Carson Livesay (Lafayette, La.) went 3-6 with an RBI and scored two runs, Miller was 3-5 with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored, and Benoit finished 3-4 with a season-high five RBI, two doubles, a run scored, and a sacrifice fly. Pitts finished 4-4 with an RBI, Gonce was 2-5 with an RBI and a run scored, Morse was 1-4 with an RBI, two runs scored, and a stolen base, and Menard went 0-5 but scored two runs. Sophomore OF Andrew Landry (Gonzalez, La.) finished 1-2 with two RBI and a run scored, Boone was 1-5 with an RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base, and Forth went 1-3 with a run scored.

The Tigers finished with 10 hits and LF Mason Olson and RF Jeffery Cambra combined for sixth of them. Occidental drew five walks but struck out eight times, left 10 on base, and committed three errors. Starting pitcher AJ Naha, the first of five in the game for the Tigers, took the loss as he allowed three runs but just one earned and seven hits in his five innings of work with no walks and one strikeout. He faced 24 batters, hitting two, and threw 94 pitches – 66 for strikes. Four Tigers' relievers allowed a combined 10 earned runs and 13 hits in four innings with two more HBP.

Centenary completes its west coast road trip with a game at Chapman University on Sunday at 11 a.m. (1 p.m. central). Live stats and live video are available for the game at the links below:

Stats: https://athletics.chapman.edu/sidearmstats/baseball/summary

Video: https://www.sciacnetwork.com/chapman/

See the complete Diamond Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2023-24/schedule

Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. 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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