By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Sports Information Director
MARSHALL, Texas — The Centenary baseball team had an easy drive west to prepare for its second NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in three seasons.
Now the challenge is getting to stay through the weekend.
Centenary (23-18) will face the nationally-ranked East Texas Baptist University (36-8) on the Tigers’ homefield today with first pitch set for 11 a.m. at Tiger Ballpark at Woods Field. The Marshall Regional is a double-elimination competition that will conclude Sunday.
The Diamond Gents earned their NCAA berth when they won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament. The Diamond Gents completed a run through the loser’s bracket by winning three straight elimination games over three days to capture their second SCAC Tournament title in three years.
ETBU, ranked fourth in the country in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 and fifth in the latest ABCA Coaches poll, is 19-5 at home this season.
Centenary and ETBU have met 115 times with the Maroon and White holding a 72-43 edge in the all-time series. The teams played each other every season since 2012 and split a pair of meetings last season, but did not collide yet this year.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (30-13) and Concordia (27-16) join Centenary and ETBU in the regional. Claremont-M-S is 25th in both the D3baseball.com/NCBWA poll and ABCA Coaches poll.
Centenary is led by senior shortstop Jobee Boone (.352, 29 RBI) and sophomore leftfielder Carson Livesay (.372, 6 HR, team-best 19 steals), named to the All-SCAC first team.
First baseman Alex Miller (.350, team-high 7 HR, team-best 46 RBI) was named the Freshman of the Year and earned second-team All-SCAC honors. Another freshman, Captain Shreve product Walker Wicklund, batted .350 and hit .444 in the conference tournament.
Sophomore left-hander Cody Myers (10-2, 2.13 ERA, 34th nationally) was also named second-team All-SCAC. Myers made three appearances in the SCAC Tournament and picked up a pair of wins, one in a starting role and one in relief.
The Diamond Gents enter the NCAA Tournament as one of the country’s top offensive clubs, 84th nationally in batting average (.310). Centenary has scored 291 runs and averaged 7.1 runs per game while boasting a .405 on-base percentage and slugging .414. The Diamond Gents have scored 10+ runs in a game 15 times this season and have posted at least 10 hits in a game in 27 of 41 games this season. Their 442 hits are tied for 67th nationally.
The NCAA berth is Centenary’s third all-time following trips in 2017 and 2022. Centenary is 1-5 all-time in the NCAA Tournament with its lone win in 2017 over Linfield.
NCAA Marshall Regional
Today
Game 1 (11:00 a.m.) – #1 ETBU (36-8) vs. #4 Centenary (23-18)
Game 2 (2:30 p.m.) – #2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (30-13) vs. #3 Concordia Texas (27-16)
Saturday
Game 3 (11:00 a.m.) – G1 Loser vs. G2 Loser (elimination game)
Game 4 – (2:30 p.m.) – G1 Winner vs. G2 Winner
Game 5 – (6:00 p.m.) – G3 Winner vs. G4 Loser (elimination game)
Sunday
Game 6 (11:00 a.m.) – G4 Winner vs. G5 Winner
Game 7 (2:30 p.m.) – if needed
Tournament Central: https://bit.ly/NCAAbb24REGIONALmarshallTX
