SHREVEPORT, La. - Along with the offense, the good news keeps rolling along with the Gents baseball.
Released Tuesday, March 21, the Centenary baseball team breaks into the top-10 for the first time in school history, moving up four spots to eighth in the latest American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball.
"It's great to be ranked in the top-10 in any poll, but it doesn't change our day-to-day process and preparation," said head coach Mike Diaz.
In the same poll, UT Tyler jumped from fourth to second, setting up an epic battle between two top-10 teams tonight in Tyler, Texas. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
UT Tyler | Live Video and Stats
In another poll released today by D3Baseball.com, the Gents went from unranked to 15th, the biggest jump in this week's poll. Also, senior Michael Schimpf - who was named Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Week Monday for the third time in 2017 - grabbed Team of the Week Honors for the second time this season.
"It's fun to sit back and watch Mike do his thing," said Diaz.
This past weekend in a three-game sweep of Schreiner, Schimpf went 7-for-10 with two doubles, one triple, four walks, six RBI's, and five runs scored. With a Gents rare home deficit in game one Friday night after one inning, Schimpf tied the game with a two-out single. He also added a two-out RBI single in the fourth, as four of his six RBI's on the weekend came with two outs.
Schimpf finished game one 2-for-3 with a run scored, two RBI's and two walks in Centenary's 10-6 win.
In the 14-4, eight inning win in the first game Saturday, Schimpf went 3-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBI's.
In the 10-0 win in the series finale, Schimpf went 2-for-2 with two runs, two RBI's, and a pair of walks.
It is the sixth-time overall and the fourth time this season a Gent has been named to the Team of the Week (Junior Kaleb Kirk and Senior Michael Schimpf, week one 2017, and Kirk week five this season; Holden Novak, week one and week five in 2016).
Also ranked according to the ABCA is SCAC-foe Texas Lutheran at 23rd and Occidental - whom the Gents beat 11-1 earlier this season - at 21.
Centenary leads the nation with 254 runs total this season, 48 more than the second-place team LaGrange (who has played on more game). The Gents .383 batting average also ranks third in the nation (trailing teams who have only played one and two games in 2017, respectively).
After the clash with #2 UT Tyler, the Gents return to action at Shehee Stadium Saturday and Sunday to face Dallas. The two teams play a doubleheader Saturday, March 25, beginning at 1 p.m., followed by the series finale Sunday, March 26, at 1 p.m.
