Georgetown, Texas – The Centenary baseball team was edged 6-5 on Friday night by the Southwestern University Pirates in the opener of a pivotal Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference weekend series at The Rockwell Family Baseball Field.
The series concludes on Saturday with a doubleheader at 1 and 4 p.m. Live stats and video links for Saturday's DH are available here: https://www.southwesternpirates.com/sports/m-basebl/2022-23/schedule
The Diamond Gents dropped to 16-13 and 8-7 in the SCAC while the conference-leading Pirates improved to 23-7 and 11-2 SCAC. Southwestern improved to 17-4 at home this season while Centenary fell to 1-5 in road contests.
Centenary got off to a great start, scoring two runs in the first and two more in the second to lead 4-0. Southwestern, though, evened the score with a four-spot in the third and added another run in the fourth to take a 5-4 lead. The Diamond Gents scored one in the top of the seventh to tie the game again but Southwestern broke the tie in the eighth with the eventual winning run.
The Diamond Gents finished with 11 hits, three stolen bases, and drew three walks. The Pirates had just six hits, walked four times, and stole three bases. Centenary struck out eight times, left eight on base, and made two errors. Southwestern went down on strikes nine times, left five on, and made one error.
All-American sophomore LHP Tyler Herrera (Spring, Texas) started for Centenary and received a no-decision. He allowed five runs, all earned, and five hits in his six innings of work with three walks and eight strikeouts. He faced 26 batters and threw 123 pitches (70 strikes). Senior RHP Christian Diaz (Houston, Texas) relieved Herrera and was saddled with the loss as he went 1.1 innings and allowed one unearned run on one hit with a walk. He faced six batters and threw 28 pitches – 15 for strikes.
Freshman RHP Jacob Broussard (Houston, Texas) came in after Diaz and allowed a stolen base, committed a balk, and then hit the only batter he faced and was replaced by freshman LHP Cody Myers (Friendswood, Texas) who got the final two outs of the eighth inning with one K to strand two baserunners.
Pirates' starter Gregory Ferguson also received a no-decision after going 6.1 innings and allowing five runs, four earned, on nine hits with a BB and six K's. He faced 28 batters, hitting one, and threw 102 pitches (73 strikes). Andrew Hardin (2-1) got the win in relief as he pitched 2.2 innings and did not allow a run on two hits with two BB and two K's. He faced 12 batters and threw 50 pitches (29 strikes).
Freshman DH Lenny Forth (Flower Mound, Texas) started the scoring with an RBI single in the top of the first to score senior CF Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas). Freshman 1B Collin Pitts (Lufkin, Texas) then singled home junior 2B Jobee Boone (Opelousas, La.) to make it 2-0. Hewitt and Boone had consecutive singles after Ferguson struck out freshman LF Carson Livesay (Lafayette, La.) to begin the game.
Senior SS Noah Koehmstedt (San Diego, Calif.) doubled to lead off the second and freshman 3B Clay Menard (Berwick, La.) followed with an infield single. Junior C Jake Gonce (Katy, Texas) then moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt and Livesay came through with an RBI single to score Koehmstedt. Hewitt grounded out to first base on a SAC bunt that scored Menard and make it 4-0.
The Pirates scored their four runs in the third on an infield single by 3B Jacob Tanner and an RBI groundout by RF Josh Endo. LF Christian Melillo had a two-RBI double to make it 4-4 and a balk by Herrera scored SS Landon Durdin for a 5-4 lead in the next inning. Centenary tied the game in the top of the seventh on an error by Endo that allowed Livesay to score. The balk by Broussard allowed the go-ahead and eventual winning run to score in the eighth, but the Diamond Gents escaped further trouble at the time as Myers retired the final two batters.
Livesay singled with one out in the top of the ninth and after Hewitt flew out, Boone singled to put runners at first and second with two outs. Hardin, though, retired Forth on a pop out to second to end the game and seal the comeback win for the Pirates.
Livesay finished with a game-high three hits, a stolen base, and an RBI. Boone and Forth each had two hits and Koehmstedt was 1-4 with a double and a run scored. Hewitt went 1-3 with an RBI, a run, a walk, and a stolen base. Menard was 1-3 with two runs and a walk, and Pitts finished 1-3 with an RBI, a walk, and a stolen base.
Centenary remains in fourth place in the league standings and one game ahead of fifth-place St. Thomas (7-8) who won 12-4 at Austin College on Friday night. The SCAC Baseball Championship will be held May 5-7 in Cleburne, Texas. The top four teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the event. Centenary is the defending tournament champion.
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/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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