PINEVILLE, La. - What a wild way to end the regular season.
Sophomore pitcher Matthew Devillier picked up 11th win and junior Chris Zapata hit his 10th home run as Centenary (31-7) ended the regular season with a 7-6 win over Louisiana College (19-17) Sunday afternoon, April 23.
Devillier, who improved to 11-0 and has won all but his first start of the season, allowed nine hits and four runs with five strikeouts in 7.1 innings of work. Junior Cole Lavergne moved into second all by his lonesome in season saves with his seventh stopper.
Zapata blasted his 10th home run of the season, a three-run shot, on the first pitch he saw in the fifth inning - becoming the first Gent to reach double-digit round trippers in a season since Blake Adkison's 16 in the 2004 season. The home run also moved Zapata into second in the season record book for RBI's with 63, one behind Todd Wilson's 64 in the 1990 season.
The Gents used small ball to score a run in the first and took advantage of a Louisiana College error to push a run across in the third. Freshman Zane Wilkinson led off the game with a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, was sacrificed to third, and scored on classmate Cody Crowder's single. In the third, senior Aaron Quintanilla reached on an error and scored on classmate Michael Schimpf's double.
Zapata's home run in the fifth put Centenary up 5-0 after five innings.
The Wildcats scored three in the sixth, but Centenary picked up two more insurance runs in the seventh. With two outs, Lavergne singled up the middle and sophomore Cameron Guin hit an RBI triple. However, an error allowed Guin to score as Centenary took a 7-3 lead.
Every Gents player in the line-up either scored a run or managed a hit. Lavergne recorded three hits while Crowder and Guin both had a pair of hits with a run scored and an RBI.
Louisiana College scored three in the sixth, one in the eighth, two in the ninth, and had the tying run in scoring position. In the sixth, Ashton Martin and Walt Aldridge singled and moved into scoring position on a balk. Seth Stevens plated both runners with a single, moved to third on Steven Pizano's single, and scored on a wild pitch. However, the third double play of the game on a strikeout and pickoff prevented any further damage.
Dustin Brown plated a run on an RBI fielder's choice in the eighth, before Louisiana College put the winning run on first with one out in the ninth. With one out and a runner at first, Aldridge was beaned and Stevens singled to load the bases. Kiefer Moore scored a pair of runners with an RBI single, but Lavergne induced a double play to end the game.
Stevens led the Wildcats with four hits, two RBI's and a run scored, while Charlie Waddingham (5-2) took the loss, allowing 10 hits and five runs (four earned) in five innings of work.
Centenary returns to action Friday in the first quarterfinal game of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
