2025 Season Preview: Centenary Baseball

Shreveport – A new season. But the same high expectations remain for the Centenary baseball program in 2025.

The Diamond Gents begin a new chapter in their storied programs' history on Saturday at 10 a.m. against the LaGrange College Panthers at home as part of the Gents Classic at Shehee Stadium.

Centenary then plays two games on Sunday – versus Huntingdon College at 12:30 p.m. and Rhodes College at 3:45 p.m.

LIVE STATS AND LIVE VIDEO ARE AVAILABLE FOR ALL TOURNAMENT GAMES AT THIS LINK: https://gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2024-25/tournaments/schedule

The Diamond Gents are coming off another outstanding season as they won the 2024 SCAC Championship in Cleburne, Texas by defeating Texas Lutheran University by a score 9-5 in the title game and made their third appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history.

Centenary finished 23-20 overall last season and went 13-7 in conference play during the regular season to finish second in the standings and was one of the country's top offensive clubs all season and finished with a team batting average of .304 with a .401 on-base percentage and slugged .406 with 20 home runs. The Diamond Gents averaged 6.9 runs per game and had 454 hits and 102 extra-base hits. They scored 10+ runs in a game 15 times during the 2024 season.

Centenary completed a memorable run through the loser's bracket in Cleburne by winning three-straight elimination games over three days to win their second SCAC tournament title in three years after claiming the title in 2022.

The Diamond Gents went 0-2 in the NCAA Tournament as they fell 5-2 to the nationally-ranked and top-seeded East Texas Baptist University Tigers in Marshall, Texas in their opener and were then eliminated by the No. 2 seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags by a score of 10-5. The NCAA Championship berth was Centenary's third all-time after appearing in both 2017 and 2022.

Centenary head coach Mike Diaz moved into third-place all-time in conference history with 144 SCAC regular-season wins with a win on April 20, 2024 against Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas, passing Jim Mallon of Southwestern.

Diaz, who enters his 15^th season at the helm, became the all-time winningest coach in program history last season with his 292nd win and is now 318-229-1, having passed former HC Ed McCann (1999-2010) for the all-time wins mark in school history. He won his 300^th game on Feb. 13, 2024 in Centenary's season-opening win over Rhodes College.

Nine Centenary players were named All-SCAC, seven made the All-Tournament Team, and two were named All-Region. The Diamond Gents have notched nine 20-plus win seasons since 2013 and have also won 13 or more conference regular-season games in four-consecutive seasons. The Diamond Gents have finished first, second, or third in the conference in every season except one (fourth – 2021) since joining the SCAC in 2013.

"I am really looking forward to competing with this group this year," said Diaz. "Our schedule is very challenging every year and this year is no different. We always want to test ourselves against the best teams to see how we stack up, where we need to improve, and prepare us for conference play."

"This season, we anticipate playing a lot of different guys early before solidifying a set lineup as we lost five positional starters and two of our weekend rotation from last season's team. So, it will be fun to go out there with a new group this year and figure out how to win with this group. We do have some key guys back from last years' championship team and we will need all of them to be great leaders and set the tone for this year."

 2025 Outlook and Schedule Highlights:

Centenary was picked to finish third in the league this season in the preseason coaches' poll released earlier in the week. Trinity University has been tabbed as the favorite to take home the 2025 title, a season in which 11 teams make up the conference, the most since the 2012 season. Concordia (Texas), which enters its first year as a member of the SCAC, received three first-place votes and finished second in the preseason rankings. Centenary has been picked to finish fourth or better in the conference in each of the last nine seasons.

Check out the D3baseball.com Region 10 Preview here: https://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2025/02/previews/Region-10-preview

The Diamond Gents are set to face five teams who are ranked or receiving votes in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Preseason Top 25 as part of an always-difficult schedule.

Their opponent in Saturday's season opener, LaGrange, is receiving votes, as is Texas Lutheran who is the Diamond Gents' first conference opponent next weekend at home. Trinity, whom Centenary will face April 11-12 on the road, is ranked 17^th in the preseason poll, Rhodes is 24^th, and Adrian is ranked 20^th and comes to town on March 4.

With the addition of Concordia and McMurry University to the conference this season, league play starts a month earlier than normal. The Diamond Gents will be in Sherman, Texas Feb. 21-22 to face Austin College for their first road series in conference play and then return home for consecutive weekends in SCAC action against the University of St. Thomas and Schreiner University.

Centenary will play non-conference games against Vermont State Castleton, Northwestern State University, Millsaps College, and a three-game series at home against Occidental. The Diamond Gents' final home conference series is against the University of Dallas April 18-19 and will finish the regular season at McMurry April 25-26 in Abilene, Texas.

Top Returnees/Players to Watch:

Senior IF Jobee Boone (Opelousas, La.) - First-Team All-SCAC at SS in 2024 and ranked in the top 10 in the conference in hits (58) and at-bats (169). He started all 42 games he played in and finished with a .343 batting average along with a .423 OBP and slugged .402. His .352 batting average in the regular season/conference tournament was in the top 10 and was especially impressive in conference games, as he hit .406 with 18 RBI and in 69 at-bats, he only struck out three times. Boone finished third on the team in hits and third in runs scored (32). He finished fourth on the team in RBI (29) and had five doubles, a triple, and a home run. In his 169 AB, he only struck out just 13 times while drawing 16 walks. Boone was 10-14 in stolen base attempts, had 68 total bases, eight HBP, three sac bunts, and one sac fly. He recorded 17 multi-hit games with six three-hit performances and one four-hit game.

Junior RHP Jacob Broussard (Houston, Texas) made a team-high 22 appearances last season and led the team in saves with four. His 22 APP led the SCAC and he was tied for third in saves. Broussard finished 0-5 with a 4.04 ERA and in 35.2 IP (fifth on team) he allowed 22 runs (16 earned) and 34 hits with 22 BB and 35 K. He finished 15 games (third in SCAC) and the league with 22 appearances in relief. He picked up the save in Centenary's 6-4 win over Southwestern in its SCAC Tournament opener in Cleburne, Texas as he worked 1.2 innings in relief and allowed just two hits with a pair of K's and then pitched 3.1 innings in the Diamond Gents' 10-8 win in 11 innings over Texas Lutheran in Cleburne and allowed just one earned run and two hits with three K's. Broussard went a season-high 4.1 innings in the Diamond Gents' NCAA Tournament game against Claremont-M-S and allowed just one earned run on three hits with three K's.

Senior LHP Tyler Herrera (Spring, Texas) was again one of the Diamond Gents' top pitchers in 2024 as he finished 2-2 with a 6.28 ERA and made 15 appearances including 11 starts. He tied for second on the team in starts and tied for fourth in appearances, and in 53.1 IP (third on team) he allowed 42 runs (37 earned) and 69 hits with 29 BB and 44 K's (third on team). Herrera tied for 10th in the conference in games started and worked 3.0+ innings 11 times. He pitched a season-high 6.1 innings in a start against Washington (Mo.) on Feb. 17, 2024 and took the no-decision despite a great performance in which he allowed just two runs (one earned) and five hits with two BB and a season-high and career-high tying 10 K's. He started the Diamond Gents' elimination game against Trinity in the SCAC Tournament in Cleburne, Texas and worked 4.2 scoreless innings and allowed just two hits with three K's in a 7-6 Centenary win.

Junior 3B Clay Menard (Berwick, La.) was named Honorable-Mention All-SCAC last season as he hit .301 with a .466 OBP and slugged .361 ... In 38 games (all starts), he had 40 hits and scored 37 runs (tied for seventh in conference) in 133 at-bats, Menard had 27 hits, 48 total bases, four doubles, and two triples (tied for eighth in SCAC). He was one of the league's most patient and disciplined hitters, ranking fifth in the conference in OBP, and walked a team-high 37 times (ranked second in SCAC) while striking out just 18 times and stole 12 bases in 14 attempts. He missed the final four games of the SCAC Tournament with an injury but returned for the NCAA Tournament. Menard had 14 multi-hit games during the season and an impressive five 3-hit performances, had seven multi-RBI games which included a trio of 3-RBI games and one single-game, career-best 4-RBI.  

Sophomore 1B Alex Miller (Cypress, Texas) had a superb rookie season in 2024 as he was named the SCAC Freshman of the Year and earned Second-Team All-SCAC honors after hitting .345 with a .419 OBP and slugged .532. Miller played in 41 games and made 40 starts as the Diamond Gents' primary first baseman, and in 171 at-bats he had 59 hits, 43 runs scored, 47 RBI, and 91 total bases. He finished 10th in the conference in batting average, sixth in slugging %, fifth in total plate appearances, fourth in total bases and hits, and third in at-bats and runs scored, and tied for third in home runs. He led the league in RBI and was the team leader in home runs, had nine doubles, a triple, six HBP, and only struck out 10 times compared to 18 BB in 171 AB. Miller was also excellent defensively as he finished with a .992 fielding % with just three errors in 365 total chances along with 343 putouts and 19 assists.

He recorded 21 multi-hit games and a pair of three-hit performances and was named the Div. III Rookie of The Month by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) on Feb. 28, 2024 after he batted .462 (12-for-26) with nine runs, eight RBI, five walks, three homers, and two doubles in the month of February. He was named to the 2024 SCAC Championship All-Tournament Team after he helped lead the Diamond Gents to the title in Cleburne, Texas ... Had two hits, an RBI, and a BB in Centenary's two NCAA Tournament games.

Sophomore UT Gage Morris (Livingston, Texas) played in 14 games and made 11 starts as a rookie last season and hit .250 with a .317 OBP and slugged .306. In 36 at-bats, he had nine hits, seven RBI, three runs scored, and collected 11 total bases. He saw increased playing time toward the end of the season as he settled in as Centenary's starting 2B, playing in in the Diamond Gent's final 10 games of the season and had two or more more at-bats in a game in the final nine games of the season and recorded a pair of multi-hit games. He was named to to the 2024 SCAC Championship All-Tournament Team after an impressive performance in Cleburne, Texas as he helped lead the Diamond Gents to the title. He had five hits and four RBI in Cleburne with two walks, two doubles, and two stolen bases. 

Sophomore DH Walker Wicklund (Shreveport, La.) was named Honorable-Mention All-SCAC last season following an impressive rookie season in he played in 34 games (25 starts) and hit .345 with a .435 OBP and slugged .425. In 87 at-bats, he had 30 hits, 15 RBI, 14 runs scored, four doubles, and one home run. Wicklund finished with 37 total bases and walked 14 times compared to just eight strikeouts and finished fifth on the team in batting average, seventh in hits, and tied for seventh in doubles. The rookie posted 10 multi-hit games which included a four-hit performance and a pair of three-hit games. He was 8-18 (.444) in the SCAC Tournament with three RBI, four runs scored, a double, four walks, a stolen base, and did not strike out the entire weekend as he was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Newcomers to Watch:

Freshman P Roman Ardoin (Lumberton, Texas)

Freshman OF Blaine Birkelbach (Pearland, Texas)

Freshman LHP Carson Dingler (Chandler, Texas)

Freshman IF Aron Gillum (Shreveport, La.)

Freshman IF Brody Hebert (Houma, La.)

Freshman UT Tyler Hughes (Coushatta, La.)

Thirty-three new faces join the roster this season paired with 28 returners.

The 2025 SCAC Baseball Tournament will be held May 2-4 at Dell Diamond Park in Round Rock, Texas. 

Feb. 7-9 Gents Classic Tournament Central: https://gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2024-25/tournaments/schedule

See the complete Diamond Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2024-25/schedule

Admission is FREE to all Centenary baseball home games. 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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