TYLER, Texas - The Gents gave up three runs in the bottom of the first and could not recover as Centenary's (35-10) season came to an end with a 13-4 loss to Concordia (30-17) in an elimination game in the Division III Baseball Regional in Tyler, Texas.
The 35 wins for the Gents were the second-most for a single season and most since Centenary tallied 40 wins in the 1990 season.
Trailing 4-0 in the top of the fourth with two outs, junior Chris Zapata walked. Freshman Cody Crowder followed with an RBI triple, while junior Ian Graham hit a cue shot through the right side on an 0-2 count to bring Centenary within a pair after four innings.
Senior Scott Dwyer led Centenary with two doubles in three at-bats in the game.
Sophomore Matthew Devillier (11-1) took the loss, allowing eight hits and four runs in three innings of work.
Despite Concordia using infield hits and hit-and-runs to score, the Gents gave the Tornados a taste of their own medicine for two more runs in the seventh. With two outs and one on base, sophomore Andrew Russell hit a hot shot back to the mound off the pitcher to put runners on the corners. Senior Aaron Quintanilla hit a shallow fly to right that fell for a hit to score a run. Classmate Michael Schimpf hit an infield single to score the Gents final run.
Meanwhile, Concordia took advantage of infield base hits to take 4-0 and 12-2 leads. To begin the game for the Tornados, Casen Novak singled to right field and Race Mellman singled to shortstop. Bret Lieferman added a well-placed bunt down the third-base line. Michael Evan singled through the leftside to score a pair, but Devillier came back to get the next two batters.
However, Concordia's Colton Pointdexter punctuated the inning with an RBI single through the left side.
Evan added a two-run home run in the fifth, while Mellman added an inside-the-park, three-run home run in the sixth. Evan finished the game a triple shy of a cycle in five at-bats with five RBI's and three runs scored. Lieferman added three hits and three runs scored.
Matthew Williams (7-3) picked up the win in 8.2 innings for the Tornados, allowing nine hits and four runs.
