SHREVEPORT-After a competitive weekend series with Oral Roberts, the Centenary baseball team will look to return to its winning ways when it hosts Western Illinois on Monday at 7 pm and Tuesday in a double-header beginning at Noon.
The Gents finished the weekend series with a 2-2 split against the Golden Eagles, taking the first two games by way of run-rule, but falling in the final two contests.
Centenary continues to maintain a slight lead over South Dakota State and Oral Roberts in Summit League standings with a 24-21 record and a 13-6 mark in league play.
Senior Cliff Shepard's .372 average paces the Gents offense, along with his team-best 64 hits, 19 doubles and 39 RBI. Junior Keegan Acker is hitting .336 with 30 walks and classmate Alex Todd is boasting a solid .327 and is second-best on the team with 31RBI.
Junior Boone Whiting is 6-1 on the season and holds a team-low 3.17 ERA through 71.0 innings pitched. The righty just broke the career record in strikeouts with his 12-strikeout performance against Oral Roberts on Friday.
Sophomore Seth Lugo is 2-2 with a 4.06 ERA, while junior David Benson is 4-3 with a 4.82 ERA. Out of the pen, senior Dakota Robinson is solid with a 3.20 ERA and a 3-1 record and a team-high 25 game appearances.
Western Illinois enters the three-game, rescheduled series with a 12-34 overall record and a 4-16 mark among Summit League opponents. The Fighting Leathernecks are 4-19 on the road, while Centenary is 16-8 at home.
Jason Summers leads the Western Illinois offense with a .416 clip, while Rich Mascheri and John Koszulinski are hitting .347 and .346 respectively.
Randon Lingle has 10 game starts and a team-low 6.08 ERA and a 3-7 record.
Following the three-game set with the Fighting Leathernecks, Centenary will hit the road for its final series of the season at IPFW beginning with a double-header on Friday at 11 am CT.
