Posted: Mar 31, 2014
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The race to postseason is in full swing in SCAC Baseball and Southwestern University had a huge weekend, taking two out of three from Texas Lutheran to put them right in the thick of things. Meanwhile, Dallas helped its cause with a sweep of Centenary to sit in great position while Centenary remains in second after taking two out of three games at Schreiner.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College fell in its three games at the
University of Dallas last weekend, dropping games one and two on
Saturday by scores of 5-4 and 8-2 before falling 10-6 on Sunday to
wrap up the series. The ‘Roos got a strong offensive output
from Dylan Day over the course of the weekend, with the junior
hitting .556 with a double and two RBI, while Hunter Wilson batted
.444 and knocked in a pair of runs. Gus Daniel and Will Schommer
also batted .400, and Daniel threw out four runners on stolen base
attempts. Daniel has now caught 11 runners stealing out of 16
attempts on the year. In the first game of the series the
‘Roos took a 4-2 lead into the sixth, but three late runs,
including a walk off with two outs in the bottom of the seventh,
led to the narrow loss.
Centenary claimed its third SCAC series of the season taking two of three from Schreiner this weekend to post a 2-2 mark for the week. The Gents batted .313 as a team and were led by Aaron Quintanilla and Christian Sebastien at the plate as they each posted .460-plus averages. Quintanilla led the squad with seven hits with Sebastien second with six. Sebastien also registered three RBI which was second on the team. Holden Novak and Layton Tromba collected the wins on the bump for the Maroon and White. Novak posted a 2.57 ERA in 7.0 innings of work while fanning a team-best six strikeouts for the week. Tromba tossed all 9.0 frames in the opener while punching out three Mountaineers in the decision and recording a 3.00 ERA. Centenary returns to action this weekend as the squad travels to Texas Lutheran for a three-game series before returning home for six straight home outings in SCAC play.
Dallas went 3-1 on the week. On Wednesday, in Forth Worth, Texas, the Crusaders fell 14-4 (F/9) to Arlington Baptist College. On Saturday, in Irving, Texas, head coach Fraser Holmes’ squad won 5-4 (F/7) over Austin College, before achieving an 8-2 (F/9) triumph in game two. On Sunday, the navy and white prevailed 10-6 (F/9) to sweep the ‘Roos. Dallas heads to Orange, Calif., to combat Chapman University this weekend -- Saturday (11 a.m. PDT; 1x7, 1x9 DH) and Sunday (11 a.m. 1x9).
Schreiner went 1-2 on the week with their record moving to 13-17 (4-5 SCAC) on the season; Mountaineers were led offensively by Sr. Center fielder Kelly Rundzieher who finished the weekend with 7 hits and defensively by Sr. Pitcher Ethan Catalani who pitched 8 innings in relief, allowing no earned runs and just 3 hits. Mountaineers, who are currently in 4th place, will look to solidify their post-season spot this weekend as they host the Trinity Tigers on Saturday at 1pm
Centenary claimed its third SCAC series of the season taking two of three from Schreiner this weekend to post a 2-2 mark for the week. The Gents batted .313 as a team and were led by Aaron Quintanilla and Christian Sebastien at the plate as they each posted .460-plus averages. Quintanilla led the squad with seven hits with Sebastien second with six. Sebastien also registered three RBI which was second on the team. Holden Novak and Layton Tromba collected the wins on the bump for the Maroon and White. Novak posted a 2.57 ERA in 7.0 innings of work while fanning a team-best six strikeouts for the week. Tromba tossed all 9.0 frames in the opener while punching out three Mountaineers in the decision and recording a 3.00 ERA. Centenary returns to action this weekend as the squad travels to Texas Lutheran for a three-game series before returning home for six straight home outings in SCAC play.
Dallas went 3-1 on the week. On Wednesday, in Forth Worth, Texas, the Crusaders fell 14-4 (F/9) to Arlington Baptist College. On Saturday, in Irving, Texas, head coach Fraser Holmes’ squad won 5-4 (F/7) over Austin College, before achieving an 8-2 (F/9) triumph in game two. On Sunday, the navy and white prevailed 10-6 (F/9) to sweep the ‘Roos. Dallas heads to Orange, Calif., to combat Chapman University this weekend -- Saturday (11 a.m. PDT; 1x7, 1x9 DH) and Sunday (11 a.m. 1x9).
Schreiner went 1-2 on the week with their record moving to 13-17 (4-5 SCAC) on the season; Mountaineers were led offensively by Sr. Center fielder Kelly Rundzieher who finished the weekend with 7 hits and defensively by Sr. Pitcher Ethan Catalani who pitched 8 innings in relief, allowing no earned runs and just 3 hits. Mountaineers, who are currently in 4th place, will look to solidify their post-season spot this weekend as they host the Trinity Tigers on Saturday at 1pm
Southwestern continued its late season surge going 2-2 on the week and picking up a SCAC series win against Texas Lutheran. The Pirates won the opening game Friday night scoring three runs in the 13th inning for a walk-off 9-8 victory. Saturday the Pirates and Bulldogs split a double-header, but the rubber game saw Southwestern explode for eight runs in the fifth inning en route to a 10-4 win. Clayton Sparks finished with four RBIs on the week hitting .308 while Zach Lynch posted a .375 batting average with six total bases and a .444 on base percentage. The Pirate pitching staff got solid starting efforts from Jacob Kendra and Joseph Koch who each earned a no-decision, but the bullpen also helped in each win. Carl Mueller pitched 4.1 innings allowing just one run into the extra frames, while Matt Litz earned a save in the finale going 2.2 innings with just one hit and two strikeouts.
Texas Lutheran dropped two of three in Georgetown to Southwestern University. TLU fell in 13 innings 9-8 on Friday and won the first game 2-0 on Saturday. The series finale produced a 10-4 win for the Pirates. The last game was scoreless until the fifth inning when Southwestern pushed across eight runs and sent 13 batters to the plate. Dwayne Snider tossed a five-hit shutout for the Bulldogs in the middle game to propel the team to victory. Von Wendel gave the Bulldogs an 8-6 lead in the 13th inning with a two-run triple in the series opener. The Bulldogs return to Seguin for this weekend’s three-game series against Centenary. TLU will play its first night game on campus when the Bulldogs host The Gents at 7 p.m. Friday at Katt-Isbel Field.
No. 3/2 Trinity suffered its toughest week in several seasons as the team was 0-4 in non-conference action against #16 Concordia (TX) University and Hendrix College. The week opened with a 5-1 loss at Concordia, followed by a three-game weekend sweep at former SCAC member Hendrix. The weekend sweep was the first three-game sweep allowed by Trinity since a 2007 SCAC series against Austin College. The team’s four-game losing streak is the longest such streak since 2009, which (ironically) also began with a loss to Concordia. The Tigers have not lost more than four straight since a six-game slide in 2007, which included the sweep against Austin. Trinity continues its extended time away from home, as the Tigers will travel to Hardin-Simmons University and Schreiner University for four more road games this week. The Tigers face Hardin-Simmons on Tuesday afternoon, followed by a three-game SCAC series at Schreiner on Saturday and Sunday.
To view the entire SCAC Around the Horn for week eight, click here.