SHREVEPORT, La. - The Centenary Gents baseball team (16-3, 3-0 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference) will welcome Schreiner (8-12, 0-0 SCAC) for the home-opening conference series Friday and Saturday, March 17-18. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, with first pitch of a doubleheader scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday.
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Among the Tops in the Nation
Centenary did a lot to stay in the national rankings by putting on an offensive display last week in a conference-opening sweep at Austin College
Game 1: 12-0, 7 innings
Game 2: 12-0, 7 innings
Game 3: 9-6
The Gents lead the nation in runs (220), doubles (50), triples (16), and shutouts (four). Ironically, Centenary sits tied in shutouts with La Verne, who the Gents beat 7-6 back on February 3. The Maroon and White rank third in home runs (18) and hit by pitch (40), fourth in slugging percentage (.584), stolen bases (44), and sacrifice flies (14), and fifth in batting average (.375), scoring (11.6), and hits (244).
Individually, junior Chris Zapata still leads the nation with 36 RBI's (by four) and sophomore Matthew Devillier is tied for first with five victories.
In the SCAC, freshman Cody Crowder and senior Michael Schimpf sit first and second in batting average at .500 and .443, respectively. Junior Kaleb Kirk sits second in ERA (1.05), and wins (four) and strikeouts (42), while Zapata and junior Cole Lavergne sit first and second in home runs (six and four respectively).
Climbing the Rankings
It was another week of climbing for the Gents this week.
In the first regular season poll of the season released by the American Baseball Coaches Association, Centenary moved from unraked preseason to number 12. D3Baseball.com received 60 votes and is in the de facto 26th position in the poll as the top team receiving votes not in the top-25.
Released Wednesday, March 15, Perfect Game (who had had the Gents ranked in the top-25 all season),moved Centenary up a spot to 11th. But the big news, Occidental (13-5) went from unranked to 15th. The Gents won at Occidental 11-1 back on February 5.
Awards Continue
Besides the ranking news, it was another busy week for the Gents in individual awards. Junior Kaleb Kirk made his second appearance of the season on the D3Baseball.com Team of the Week, while classmate Chris Zapata and Kirk were repeat winners of SCAC Player and Pitcher of the Week honors, respectively.
Career Leaders
Numerous Centenary hitters are helping rewrite the Centenary record books:
Batting Average:
- Jim Kubik (1983-84) .380
- Michael Schimpf (2014-pres.) .364
- Sonny Gaea (1994-95) .363
Hits
- Tony Cardone (2001-04) 236
- Bobby Gilliam (2000-04) 226
- Michael Schimpf (2014-pres.) 190
- Ricky Slade (1978-81) 186
Runs
- Dennis Traynor (1989-91) 141
- Michael Schimpf (2017-pres.) 138
- Brian Stier (1992-94) 122
- Andy Watson (1979-82) 121
- Sonny Gaea (1994-95) 118
Ricky Slade (1978-81) 118
- David Coss (1979-82) 109
Matt Creamer (2010-13) 109
- Steven Booras (1987-90) 108
...
Aaron Quintanilla (2014-pres.) 105
Doubles
- B.J. Grenda (2001-02) 32
Alex Maldonado (2005-08) 32
- Ricky Barry (1994-95) 31
Andy Watson (1979-82) 31
Ryan Gasporra (2012-13) 31
Jemari James (2012-13) 31
...
Chris Zapata (2015-pres.) 29
Aaron Quintanilla (2014-pres.) 27
Michael Schimpf (2014-pres.) 27
Triples
- Dustin Brandon (1996-97) 8
Mitch Ashmore (1978-80) 8
Bill Schmidt (1977-78) 8
- Jason Chick (2000-01) 7
David Coss (1979-82) 7
Larry Haas (1976-77) 7
Aaron Quintanilla (2014-pres.) 6
- Justin Huff (2006-07) 6
Tim Ryan (2005-06) 6
David Kiefer (2005-06) 6
Nic Parrott (2011-14) 6
Michael Schimpf (2014-pres.) 6
Total Bases
- Mitch Ashmore (1978-80) 270
- Michael Schimpf (2014-pres.) 253
- David Wyss (1991-92) 243
RBI's
- Alex Maldonado (2005-08) 112
- Ken Kaveny (1991-92) 110
Andy Watson (1979-82) 110
...
Chris Zapata (2015-pres.) 106
Aaron Quintanilla (2014-pres.) 103
HBP
- Michael Schimpf (2014-pres.) 43
- Dakota Brown (2012-2016) 37
- Marc Martinez (2011-2014) 30
Stolen Bases
- Patrick Beale (2002-03) 46
- Bill Schmidt (1977-78) 44
- Roy Gilbert (1986-88) 43
- Matt Webb (2006-07) 41
Aaron Quintanilla (2014-pres.) 41
- Matt Creamer (2010-13) 40
- Dustin Brandon (1996-97) 37
Wins
- Robert Lozano (1988-91) 18
Kevin Cassidy (2000-04) 18
Taylor Henry (2012-15) 18
- George Fauber (1982-85) 16
Kaleb Kirk (2015-pres.) 16
ERA
- Cecil Upshaw (1961-64) 1.18
- Kaleb Kirk (2015-pres.) 2.42
- Charles Kirby (1974-76) 2.65
On the World Stage
Former Gent pitcher Seth Lugo represents Puerto Rico at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. He threw 5.1 scoreless innings on March 9 in Puerto Rico's 11-0 win against Venezuela. He returns to the mound tonight when Puerto Rico faces off with the USA tonight at 9 p.m. CST, with the game being shown live on the MLB Network and MLB.TV.
MLB Article on Seth Lugo
Next Up
It will be a massive midweek battle when 11th-ranked Centenary makes the trip west on I-20 to take on the fourth-ranked UT Tyler Patriots on Tuesday, March 21. First pitch in Tyler, Texas, is set for 6 p.m.
