Shreveport - The Centenary baseball team will face the nationally-ranked Trinity University Tigers this weekend at home in a battle of the top two teams in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference as the two teams conclude the regular season beginning Friday with a single game set for 6 p.m. at Shehee Stadium.
Live stats and live video are available for all three games at the links below:
Stats: https://gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2023-24/boxscores/20240426_to9h.xml
Video: https://www.youtube.com/live/ar66KQOpbdI?si=3--rdKOM9SbVGgse
The Diamond Gents (18-15, 12-5 SCAC) and No. 9 Tigers (28-9, 14-4 SCAC) will play a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 and 4 p.m. The Diamond Gents will honor their 2024 senior class following the second game on Saturday. Centenary trails Trinity by 2.5 games in the race for the regular-season conference crown. Centenary is 7-2 at home this season while Trinity is 7-3 on the road this season.
Centenary has been dominant at home recently as the Maroon and White are an impressive 53-17 at Shehee Stadium since the beginning of the 2021 season.
Trinity was the preseason pick to win the conference with Centenary predicted to finish second. Trinity enters the series ranked ninth in the latest D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll and 11th in the American Baseball Coaches Association NCAA Div. III Coaches Poll. The Tigers won two of three games at home against the University of Dallas Crusaders last weekend in conference play and edged the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, 5-4, on Tuesday in a non-conference contest on the road.
Centenary lost a slugfest to the University of Texas at Dallas Comets by a score of 17-10 on Tuesday afternoon in a non-conference game in Richardson, Texas. The Diamond Gents and Tigers have already played this season as they met on March 9 in San Antonio with Trinity recording a 13-4 win in what was considered a non-conference contest despite the two being league foes.
The Diamond Gents enter the weekend as one of the nation's top offensive teams as they rank 71st in the country in batting average (.315) and boast a .406 on-base percentage and slug .423 with 16 home runs. Centenary has scored 239 runs, averaging 7.2 runs per game, and has 491 total baes, 85 extra-base hits, 132 walks, 60 HBP, and 61 stolen bases. The Diamond Gents have scored 10+ runs in a game 13 times this season and have posted at least 10 hits in a game in 22 of 33 games this season. Centenary has a 5.70 ERA with a pair of complete games and three saves.
Eight Centenary players are hitting .300 or better this season led by senior SS Jobee Boone (Opelousas, La.) who is fifth in the conference with a .386 batting average and is followed closely by freshman 1B Alex Miller (Cypress, Texas) at .372 (tied for seventh). Boone has a team-high 49 hits and Miller and sophomore LF Carson Livesay (Lafayette, La.) are tied for second with 48 apiece.
Boone has 28 runs scored, 24 RBI, four doubles, one triple, and one home run. Miller has hit a team-leading six home runs, a team-high 37 RBI, 35 runs scored, seven doubles, a triple, and five stolen bases. Livesay is hitting .353 with 22 RBI, 39 runs scored, three home runs, 11 doubles, a triple, and a team-leading 17 stolen bases.
Sophomore 3B Clay Menard (Berwick, La.) is tied for sixth in the league in runs scored (34) and is batting .322 with 37 hits, 24 RBI, four doubles, a triple, and 11 stolen bases. Sophomore CF Collin Pitts (Lufkin, Texas) is hitting .339 with 42 hits, 14 runs scored, 24 RBI, six doubles, three triples, and a homer.
Senior RF Austyn Benoit (Welsh, La.) is hitting .320 with 41 hits, 29 RBI, 24 runs scored, 14 doubles, six stolen bases, three homers, and a triple. Senior C Jake Gonce (Katy, Texas) is batting .306 with 34 hits, 21 runs scored, 15 RBI, four stolen bases, a homer, and three doubles. Freshman DH Walker Wicklund (Shreveport, La.) is hitting .364 with 20 hits, eight runs scored, three doubles, a homer, 11 RBI, and three stolen bases.
Sophomore LHP Cody Myers (Friendswood, Texas) has established himself as the team's ace and one of the league's and country's top pitchers. Myers (8-2) is 11th nationally in ERA (1.48) with a pair of complete games in 11 appearances and nine games started. In 67.0 IP, Myers has allowed just 14 runs (11 earned) and 50 hits with 22 walks and 69 strikeouts. Myers, tied for second in the country in wins, has had an ERA under 1.00 for the majority of the season. He ranks second in the conference in ERA, tied for second in IP and third in K's.
Trinity recorded a three-game sweep over Centenary in San Antonio last season and defeated the Diamond Gents 5-2 in the SCAC Championships in Cleburne, Texas.
A Peek at the Tigers:
Trinity is hitting .283 as a team with 32 home runs. The Tigers have a 3.67 ERA with two complete games and seven saves.
The Tigers boast a .396 on-base percentage and slug .432. They have 337 hits, have scored 257 runs, have 110 extra-base hits, and shave stolen 67 bases.
Jackson Teer, Trinity's top pitcher, leads the country in ERA (0.69) and is 6-1 in eight appearances (all starts). Junior C Nicholas Lazzara is the Tigers' leading hitter with a .345 batting average with 40 hits and 28 RBI.
Looking Ahead:
The 2024 SCAC Baseball Tournament is scheduled for May 3-5 in Cleburne, Texas. Centenary has appeared in the SCAC Championship game five times in its history, winning it twice and finishing as runner-up in 2013, 2015, and 2018. The top four teams in the standings at the conclusion of the regular season qualify for the 2024 SCAC Tournament.
Current Standings:
1 Trinity 28-9, 14-4 SCAC
2 Centenary 18-15, 12-5 SCAC
3 Southwestern 23-15, 13-6 SCAC
4 Texas Lutheran 21-15, 10-9 SCAC
5 St. Thomas 14-22, 9-9 SCAC
6 Dallas 20-13, 8-9 SCAC
7 Schreiner 9-26, 4-13 SCAC
8 Austin College 9-26, 1-16 SCAC
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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