Shreveport – The Centenary baseball team split a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with the Texas Lutheran University Bulldogs on Saturday, winning game one 5-4 and falling 6-3 in 10 innings in game two at Shehee Stadium.
Centenary (9-5, 2-1 SCAC) will be home next weekend against the University of Dallas for a three-game SCAC series. The Bulldogs (8-11, 1-2 SCAC) salvaged the final game of the series after the Diamond Gents opened the weekend with an 8-4 comeback victory on Friday night.
Game 1 Recap: Centenary 5 TLU 4
The game was scoreless until the Diamond Gents pushed across a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 2-0 lead. The Bulldogs scored four times in the eighth to take a 4-2 lead, but the Maroon and White answered with three in the bottom half to regain the lead at 5-4 and held on for the win.
Centenary finished with 10 hits while the Bulldogs managed just six and hurt themselves with four errors. TLU also struck out nine times and left five on base. Centenary left eight on but only struck out one time in 33 at-bats.
Senior RHP Parker Primeaux (Lake Charles, La.) started and went 7.1 innings and received a no-decision but pitched well. He allowed just three runs, two earned, on five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. He faced 29 batters and threw 116 pitches, 74 for strikes. Blade Strzelczyk (0-2) started for the Bulldogs and took the loss. He went 7.1 innings and allowed five runs, two earned, and 10 hits with one walk and one K. He faced 35 batters and threw 117 pitches (87 strikes) and hit one batter. Riley Backs came in and faced the final two batters and hit one before getting an inning-ending double play.
Freshman RHP Aidan Reichek (Bellaire, Texas) was the first of three relievers for Centenary, entering in the eighth inning and struck out the only batter he faced. Freshman LHP Cody Myers (Friendswood, Texas) got he win to improve to 1-1 as he got he final out of the eighth and the first out of the ninth. He allowed one earned run on one hit with a walk and a K.
Freshman RHP Jacob Broussard (Houston, Texas) recorded his first-career save as he relieved Myers and got two groundouts to end the game.
Freshman LF Lenny Forth (Flower Mound, Texas) reached on an infield single with one out and junior C Austyn Benoit (Welsh, La.) singled and advanced on an error by Strzelczyk to score Forth. Sophomore LF Zachery Van Gorkom (Shreveport, La.) then reached on an error and Benoit scored to make it 2-0.
2B Aric Vasquez had an RBI single in the eighth to drive in the Bulldogs' first run and LF Mason Goudeau had the big blow with a bases-loaded RBI double down the left-field line to make it 4-2.
Sophomore Cade LaBruyere (Iowa, La.) led off the Centenary eighth with a double and Forth promptly drove him in with a single through the right side. Junior Julien DeLeon (Shreveport, La.) pinch hit for freshman 3B Clay Menard (Berwick, La.) and reached on a fielder's choice and Forth scored on an error by Vasquez to tie the game. Sophomore McKenly McLaughlin (Georgetown, Texas) then singled to center to score Van Gorkom and put Centenary head 5-4.
Backs then entered the game and hit senior SS Noah Koehmstedt (San Diego, Calif.) with a pitch to load the bases. Backs escaped further trouble as he got freshman RF Carson Livesay (Lafayette, La.) to hit into an inning-ending double play. Myers started the ninth by getting SS Randy Huerta to strike out and Broussard entered and needed just six pitches to retire the final two batters and seal the win.
Forth led Centenary with two hits, going 2-4 with an RBI and to runs scored and eight players recorded one hit. Goudeau and C Holden Philippus each had two hits for TLU. RF Blake Cappadona went 0-2 but drew a pair of walks and scored a run.
Game 2 Recap: TLU 6 Centenary 3 (10 innings)
Centenary took an early 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the first and added a single run in the third. The 2-0 lead lasted until the Bulldogs answered with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth to tie the game at 2-2.
TLU then scored one in the top of the ninth but Centenary answered with the tying run in the bottom half to send the game to extra innings tied at 3-3. The Bulldogs, though, scored three times in the 10th to take a 6-3 lead and retired the Maroon and White in the bottom half to earn the DH split.
The Diamond Gents finished with 11 hits but committed two errors and left 12 on base. The Bulldogs had eight hits, committed three errors, and left nine on. Centenary drew three walks and struck out six times while TLU walked six times and went down on strikes five times.
Reichek started and pitched well, going seven innings and allowed just one earned run on four hits with two walks and four K's. He faced 27 batters and threw 105 pitches (67 strikes). Six more Centenary pitcher followed with senior RHP Christian Diaz (Houston, Texas) suffering the loss as he allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits with one K in 1.2 IP. He faced eight batters and threw 28 pitches – 18 for strikes.
Diego Vinton started for the Bulldogs and allowed two earned runs and seven hits with one walk and five K's in seven innings of work. He faced 29 batters and threw 96 pitches (66 strikes). Zach Longshore (2-2) picked up the win in relief as he did not allow a run or a hit with one walk in 1.1 IP.
Junior 2B Jobee Boone (Opelousas, La.) had a big game offensively for Centenary as he finished 5-5 with two RBI. Livesay was 2-5 with a run scored and a stolen base, and LaBruyere went 1-4 with an RBI. Senior CF Gary Hewitt (Cedar Park, Texas) finished 1-5 with two runs scored and a stolen base, and Forth and Menard each had one hit.
Goudeau and Vasquez led the way for the Bulldogs as they combined to go 5-8 with an RBI, a walk, and a run scored. Goudeau also stole two bases and Huerta swiped one. Cappadona finished 1-4 with an RBI, a walk, and a run scored. 3B Niko Garcia and CF Payton Dahl combined for a pair of hits and two runs scored.
Boone gave Centenary the early lead as he drove Hewitt home on an RBI single in the first and LaBruyere had an RBI single that also scored Hewitt in the third for a 2-0 lead. 1B Tyler Post got the Bulldogs on the board with a sacrifice fly and Goudeau followed with an infield single to tie the game at 2-2.
Cappadona doubled in Dahl with two outs to put the Bulldogs ahead in the top of the ninth but Diaz got Vasquez to fly out to end the inning. Livesay then singled with one out and stole second. Hewitt grounded out to move Livesay to third and Boone delivered an RBI single up the middle to tie the game.
Diaz retired the first two batters to start the top of the 10th but Goudeau singled up the middle and senior RHP Peyton Thibodeaux (Lake Arthur, La.) came in walked a pair to load the bases. Freshman RHP Cade Josting (Bossier City, La.) relived Thibodeaux and Garcia greeted him with a two-run single for a 5-3 lead. Huerta, who walked earlier, scored on a balk to make it 5-3. Josting then got Dahl to fly out to end the threat.
Longshore got a pair of groundouts to start the bottom half of the 10th and then walked freshman PH Caleb Ickes (Prairieville, La.). He retired Benoit on a groundout to second to complete the win.
Centenary will return to action next weekend at home versus the University of Dallas in a three-game conference series beginning on Saturday, March 25 with a doubleheader at 1 and 4 p.m.
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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