Houston- Sophomore LHP Cody Myers (Friendswood, Texas) tied his career high with 13 strikeouts as he helped lead the Centenary baseball team to a 4-2 victory over the University of St. Thomas Celts in the opener of a three-game Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference weekend series at Constellation Field.
The Diamond Gents (15-10, 10-2 SCAC) have won four games in a row and are 10-2 in their last 12 games. The Celts fell to 11-19 overall and 6-7 in SCAC play and had their three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 1-8 at home. Centenary has now won 10 or more conference games in the regular season in all 11 seasons since joining the SCAC in 2013. *Due to COVID, no SCAC games were played in 2020.
The series concludes on Saturday with a doubleheader set for 1 and 4 p.m. Live stats and live video are available for Saturday's games at the links below:
Stats: https://ustcelts.com/sports/bsb/2023-24/boxscores/20240412_gem8.xml
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCR2v16Faws
Centenary moved into first place in the conference standings, a half-game ahead of Trinity University (22-8, 10-3 SCAC) as the Tigers were blanked by Texas Lutheran 5-0 at home on Friday night. The Diamond Gents, now 8-6 on the road this season, are 6-3 all-time against the Celts.
Myers (8-1) previously struck out 13 in his 8-0 complete-game shutout win at Dallas on March 18 and has now fanned 10 or more batters in a game three times this season after recording 10 last week at home against Southwestern University. The lefty worked 8.1 impressive innings on Friday as he allowed just two runs, one earned, and six hits with four walks. He faced 36 batters, threw one wild pitch, and finished with 129 pitches – 83 for strikes. Myers nearly threw his third-straight CG but was replaced with one out in the bottom of the ninth by sophomore RHP Jacob Broussard (Houston, Texas).
Myers, who went the distance against the Pirates last Friday and on March 28 at Schreiner, has now lasted at least seven innings in seven-consecutive starts and has only allowed five earned runs over his last 47.2 innings with 50 strikeouts. He entered Friday's start third in the country with an 0.85 ERA and he has now made 10 appearances this season (eight starts) and has allowed just seven earned runs and 43 hits in 61.0 IP with 60 K's and only 20 BB. Myers' 13 K's are tied for the second-most in a single game in the division III era (2012-present).
Broussard picked up his third save of the season as he came in for Myers with the Diamond Gents up 4-1 with one out in the bottom of the ninth and two men on base. Both runners stole a base to move to second and third but Broussard struck out 2B Alex Trinh for the second out. LF Kyle Bearden singled to make it 4-2 and put runners at the corner. Bearden then stole second and Broussard walked C Mason Seay to load the bases but DH Gabe Garner hit a comebacker to Broussard and he tossed to first to end the threat and seal the win.
Celts' starter Landon Murray limited the Diamond Gents to just four hits, a notable accomplishment as the Maroon and White entered the game with the conference's top offense and one of the top offensive clubs in the country in all of division III. Murray (3-6) went eight innings and allowed three runs, all earned, with three BB and three K's and gave up a home run to freshman 1B Alex Miller (Cypress, Texas). He faced 32 batters, hitting two, and threw 96 pitches with 59 for strikes.
Gilberto Arreozola pitched the ninth and allowed one earned run with a BB and a K but no hits. He faced four batters and threw 17 pitches (nine strikes). Sophomore Andrew Landry (Gonzalez, La.) scored on a passed ball to give Centenary an important insurance run.
Senior RF Austyn Benoit (Welsh, La.) doubled to lead off the second and senior SS Jobee Boone (Opelousas, La.) was hit by a pitch. Sophomore DH Matthew Herrera (Sunnyvale, Texas) grounded out and both runners moved up. Sophomore CF Collin Pitts (Lufkin, Texas) then delivered a sacrifice fly to score Benoit for a 1-0 lead.
Murray retired freshman 2B Miles Keith (Lindale, Texas) and sophomore LF Carson Livesay (Lafayette, La.) on consecutive ground outs to open the third inning but sophomore 3B Clay Menard (Berwick, La.) walked and Miller followed with his team-leading fourth homer of the season for a 3-0 lead.
Myers walked 1B Dillon McKee with the bases loaded to force in a run in the bottom of the third to make it 3-1, but he got RF Timothy Mansell to ground out to end the threat and leave the bases full. Five scoreless frames followed until each team scored a run in the ninth, but Myers' brilliance and Miller's blast were too much for the Celts as the Diamond Gents sealed the win.
Centenary finished with four walks, four strikeouts, made one error, left five on base, and stole two bases – both by Livesay. The Celts drew five walks but struck out 14 times, made one error, and left 11 on base.
Myers struck out one batter in the first, two in the second, one in the third, two in the fourth, two more in the fifth, another two in the sixth, one in the seventh, and two more in the eighth- the final two batters he faced on the night.
Livesay drew a walk two go with his two stolen bases as he stole multiple bases in a game for the third time this season, Menard had a walk and a run scored, Miller also had a walk to go with his homer, senior C Jake Gonce (Katy, Texas) had a single, and junior McKenly McLaughlin (Georgetown, Texas) drew a leadoff walk in the top of the ninth as he pinch-hit for Herrera. McLaughlin was appearing in just his third game this season and second at-bat.
Seay and Trinh each had two hits to lead the St. Thomas offense and Seay walked twice. Five Celts batters struck out at least twice and Manswell went down on strikes three times.
Centenary aims for its fourth series sweep of the season and second in a row on Saturday.
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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