Georgetown, Texas – The Centenary baseball team claimed the series win over the Southwestern University Pirates on Saturday with a convincing doubleheader sweep in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference action by scores of 6-0 in game one and 10-0 in seven innings in game two at The Rockwell Family Baseball Field.
The Diamond Gents (18-13, 10-7 SCAC) rebounded from a disappointing 6-5 loss on Friday night in the series opener to win their second-straight series following a home sweep of Schreiner. The Pirates (23-9, 11-4 SCAC) lost their first conference series of the season and were shutout for just the third time this season. Southwestern entered the weekend atop the league standings but is now a game behind co-leaders Trinity and Texas Lutheran. Centenary leads the all-time series 30-13 including a 14-7 mark in Georgetown, and has won five of the last six meetings.
Centenary is in fourth place and two games ahead of fifth-place St. Thomas (8-9). 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.
Game one recap: Centenary 6 Southwestern 0
The game was scoreless for two innings until Centenary scored twice in the top of the third. Three more scoreless innings followed and then the Maroon and White added a single run in the seventh, two more in the eighth, and one in the ninth.
Centenary finished with 13 hits, drew six walks, had four extra-base hits, and a home run. Senior RHP Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.) tossed a complete-game shutout and limited the Pirates to just three hits in his nine innings of masterful work. Primeaux walked three, hit one, and struck out eight, facing 33 batters and throwing 113 pitches (70 strikes). The shutout is Primeaux's second of the season and the CG was his first and third of his career. Centenary's pitching staff now owns four shutouts and four CG's this season.
Southwestern starter Stephen Rutherford (2-1) suffered the loss as he went six innings and allowed two runs, both earned, and allowed six hits with six BB and three K's. He faced 30 batters, hit one, and threw 105 pitches, 57 for strikes. Relievers Ty Elder and Kyle Porter combined to pitch the final three innings and allowed four earned runs, seven hits, four K's, and the homer.
Southwestern entered the series as one of the top offensive teams in the conference, ranking first in on-base percentage, second in team batting average, third in runs scored, tied for third in RBI, and fifth in slugging %. The Pirates came into the weekend averaging 7.7 runs per game and had reached double digits seven times. But the Pirates finished the series with just six runs total and were held scoreless over their final 16 of the series. Southwestern managed just 11 hits in the series, and only five in Saturday's two games.
Freshman DH Lenny Forth (Flower Mound, Texas) gave the Diamond Gents a 2-0 lead in the third with a one-out single that scored freshman LF Carson Livesay (Lafayette, La.) and senior CF Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas). Elder entered in relief to start the seventh for the Pirates and struck out Forth to start the inning. Junior RF Austyn Benoit (Welsh, La.) then hit his second homer of the season to make it a 3-0 game. Hewitt added an RBI single in the eighth and junior 2B Jobee Boone (Opelousas, La.) followed with one of his own to score Hewitt. Freshman 3B Clay Menard (Berwick, La.) had an RBI single in the ninth that scored freshman 1B Collin Pitts (Lufkin, Texas) for the final run.
Primeaux retired the final eight batters in order, as he got stronger as the game progressed. He allowed a walk and hit a batter in the first, a walk in the second, a double in the third, a walk in the fourth, a single in the fifth, another walk and HBP in the sixth, and a single in the seventh and that was all.
Benoit and Pitts each finished with three hits, and Hewitt had two. Livesay finished 1-4 with a run scored and a double, Boone was 1-5 with an RBI, and Forth was 1-4 with two RBI. Benoit went 3-4 with a walk and a run scored along with his homer. Menard was 1-3 with an RBI and a pair of walks. Pitts went 3-5 with a run scored and a double. Junior C Jake Gonce (Katy, Texas) went 1-4 with a double and scored a run. Senior SS Noah Koehmstedt (San Diego, Calif.) walked twice.
Game two recap: Centenary 10 Southwestern 0 (7 innings)
The Diamond Gents scored two runs in the top of the second and then put the game away with eight runs in the final four innings to cruise to their second-straight shutout win and complete a DH sweep. The Pirates managed just two hits, a season-low, and did not record them until the final two batters of the game. SW's previous low this season for hits in a single game was four.
Centenary banged out 15 hits as the Maroon and White finished with 28 in the two games and 39 in the series. Centenary has had 10+ hits in a game 17 times this season and averaged seven runs and 13 hits this weekend. Freshman RHP Aidan Reichek (Bellaire, Texas) started on the mound for Centenary and nearly threw his second no-hitter of the season. He held the Pirates hitless for 6.2 innings until SS Alexander Cannata doubled with two outs in the seventh. DH Preston Witt followed with a single but Hewitt nailed Cannata at the plate to end the game and keep the shutout intact.
Reichek (3-1) walked two and struck out seven in his seven innings of work. He faced 25 batters, hitting two, and threw 84 pitches (52 strikes). He tossed a no-hitter against Dallas at home on March 25, which was the first thrown since Matthew Devillier held Austin College hitless on April 20, 2018 at home. Reichek and Devillier's no-hitters are the only two in the division III era (2012-present) in program history.
Southwestern starter J.J. Slack (5-2) was the losing pitcher as he allowed six runs, five earned, and 11 hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out six of the 25 batters he faced and threw 91 pitches (57 strikes). Ryan Corbett relieved him and went an inning, allowing two earned runs and two hits, a HBP, walked two, and had two K's. Ben Shepherd pitched the seventh and allowed two runs, one earned, and two hits with no BB and no K's. The five ER and 11 H are the most allowed in an appearance all season by Slack.
Hewitt and Menard each had three hits, and Forth, Benoit, and Pitts each had two. Centenary drew five walks, had three extra-base hits, and stole five bases – one by Hewitt, and two each from Livesay and Pitts. Hewitt was 3-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, Menard went 3-4 with an RBI and a run scored, and Forth was 2-3 with two RBI, a double, a walk, and a run scored.
Benoit was 2-3 with a triple, two RBI, two runs scored, and a walk, and Pitts went 2-3 with an RBI, a BB, and a run. Livesay finished 1-4 with an RBI, a BB, and a run, Boone went 1-2 with a BB and a run, and Gonce was 1-4 with a double and a run scored.
Menard brought Benoit home on an infield single in the second and Pitts scored on a balk later in the inning to make it 2-0. Forth's RBI double, a two-RBI triple by Benoit, and an RBI single by Pitts in the fifth made it a 6-0 game. Hewitt and Forth had RBI singles in the sixth to extend Centenary's lead to 8-0. Livesay had an infield single in the seventh and Gonce came home on a passed ball to make it 10-0.
Centenary is now an impressive 75-43 overall over the last three seasons and 38-21 in conference play. The Diamond Gents have won 10 or more conference games in the regular season in 10 of 11 seasons since joining the SCAC prior to the 2013 season with the only exception being 2020 when the conference schedule was not played due to COVID-19.
The Diamond Gents will play their final non-conference contest of the regular season on Tuesday against the East Texas Baptist University Tigers in Marshall, Texas. The Tigers defeated the Diamond Gents 7-5 in Shreveport last week.
Centenary then heads to Sherman, Texas next weekend to finish conference play and its regular season against the 'Roos of Austin College (6-26, 2-13 SCAC). The 'Roos helped the Diamond Gents out on Saturday as they salvaged the third and final game of their series at home against St. Thomas, who is Centenary's main competition for a berth into next month's conference tournament.
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/schedule
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