TYLER, Texas – Who knew that with two outs and no one on in the fifth, the Gents were right where the wanted to be?
The Maroon and White went on to score three runs in the inning, and added six insurance runs late as Centenary (5-0) picked up a road win against #20 UT Tyler (3-1) 9-2 Friday night, February 12.
In the fifth with two down, senior Dakota Brown has hit by a pitch. Freshman Colten Maples added an infield single and classmate Cameron Guin singled to centerfield to tie the game at one. Junior Michael Schimpf then grounded to third, but an error by the Patriots' Alex Bishop cleared the bases to give the Gents a 3-1 advantage.
Combined with three runs in the first in game one against Louisiana February 6, the Gents have now scored six runs in 2016 after the first two batters of the inning were retired.
Senior Holden Novak (2-0) allowed a single tally in the bottom of the fifth, but freshman Matthew Devillier threw the final four innings for his second save of the year. Devillier allowed three hits and struck out four, while Novak allowed six hits while striking out six in five innings of work.
The Gents blew the game open with two runs in the eighth and a four-run ninth. With runners on second and third with one out in the top of the eighth, sophomore Chris Zapata drove in a pair with a double. A wild pitch with a runner on third and Guin's three-run home run in the ninth opened up a Centenary 9-2 lead.
Zapata led the Maroon and White with three hits in five at-bats with two RBI's. The bottom third of the order for Centenary (Brown, Maples, and Guin) combined to go 6-for-11 with six runs scored and four RBI's.
UT Tyler plated a run in the third and threatened to do more damage. With one out, Trenton Buchhorn tripled and scored on Sam Lane's sacrifice fly. A double, single and a walk loaded the bases off of Novak, but a lineout to centerfield on a full count ended the Patriot's threat.
Buchhorn later added another triple and scored on Bishop's sacrifice fly in the fifth, but UT Tyler was held scoreless in the final four innings.
The Patriots put a pair on with one out in the seventh, but a 6-4-3 ended the threat and preserved the Centenary 3-2 advantage.
The Gents return to action Saturday, February 13, against LeTourneau. First pitch in Longview, Texas, is scheduled for 1 p.m.