GEORGETOWN, Texas – After a slow start offensively, the Gents bats found their groove in the late innings.
Junior Chris Zapata pounded out four extra-base hits, while senior Aaron Quintanilla broke the career record for triples as #6 Centenary (27-6, 13-3 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference) wrapped up a top-2 seed in the Conference Tournament with a 7-1 win at Southwestern (18-15, 7-6 SCAC) Friday night, April 14.
With both teams at a stalemate through four innings, it was Quintanilla's record-breaking ninth triple with a runner on base that put Centenary up 1-0. Senior Michael Schimpf added a sacrifice fly and Zapata hit a double to score freshman Cody Crowder, who walked earlier in the inning.
Zapata banged out four extra-base hits in five at-bats, including three doubles and a two-run shot in the seventh – his eighth home run of the season. Adding a run-producing double in the eighth, Zapata finished the game with four RBI's and a run scored.
Meanwhile, junior Kaleb Kirk (7-3) dazzled in his first complete game of the season. He struck out 11 Pirates in the game – his third double-digit strikeout game in 2017 – and allowed just four hits and one run in nine innings. After giving up the run, Kirk retired the final nine batters faced, including five by strikeout.
Kirk finished the game with 114 pitches, 78 of which were strikes.
After Southwestern cut the deficit to 5-1 in the seventh, the Maroon and White put the exclamation point on the game with two runs in the eighth. With one out, Quintanilla singled and advanced to second on a ground out. Schimpf drove in his teammate with a single and advanced to second on the throw. Zapata followed with his 13th double of the season to cap the scoring.
Southwestern's lone run came in the seventh when Ben Little hit an infield single and advanced to third on a wild pitch. He scored on Cameron Cooper's single, but Kirk limited the damage with a pair of punch outs and a groundout.
Will Preston (0-3) took the loss for Southwestern, allowing five hits and five walks with three runs in five innings of work.
Centenary will close out SCAC play Saturday, April 15, with a doubleheader against Southwestern beginning at 1 p.m. With a win, the Gents clinch at least a share of the Regular Season Conference Title and the first seed in the Tournament. If the Maroon and White sweep, it would be the second outright SCAC Regular Season Championship in three seasons.