@UDallasBaseball Pitching falters as Gents Sweep Conference Series
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas Baseball team (11-12, 1-5 SCAC) slumped to under .500 for the first time in a month as Centenary College of Louisiana completed a sweep on Sunday 16-4. After Dallas went on the road a few weeks ago and got the brooms out on the Gents, it was the Maroon and White's turn to return the favor in a trio of games that counted toward Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) play. Dallas has also now dropped four straight.
Centenary scored in all-but two innings on the series finale. A double-digit lead resulted after 10 runs piled up in the last two turns to bat for the guests. Dallas allowed the first three runs with one apiece in each inning to start the afternoon matchup.
The Crusaders got on the board with junior Trevor Keele (Edgewood, Texas) singling to the pitcher in the third. Senior Alex Thornton (Fort Worth, Texas) scored as Keele recorded his eighth RBI of the series.
Down only two, the Crusaders battled to stay within striking distance, but the Maroon and White pulled out to an eight run lead (9-1) by the eighth. Nic Parrot, who had doubled in the third; singled his second RBI of the game in the fifth. Two balls that got passed the UD catcher would score both Centenary's runs on separate instances in the sixth.
The Crusaders did counter Centenary's trio of runs in the eighth with three of their own in the home half. Junior Luciano Villanueva (San Antonio, Texas) pounded a three-run shot over the left field wall to make it 9-4.
The Gents ballooned the advantage to 12 with seven runs in the ninth. They matched their runs column with 16 hits. Both teams had one error.
Parrott went 4-for-5, three RBI, two runs, and a double. Chris Jones followed second on the Gents in hits (3-for-5) and tied Parrott and Villanueva for the game-high on ribbies (3). Jones also tripled in addition to the four doubles Centenary knocked for all the extra base hits for the road jerseys.
The first three hitters in UD's lineup: senior Mark Carlson (Hawthorn Woods, Ill.), Thornton, and sophomore Tug McRoberts (Beaumont, Texas) recorded two-hit games. The team finished with nine and had Villanueva's homer count as the only one for extra bases. Junior Jacob Bruns (Holland, Mich.) was saddled with the loss. His final line was: 4.2 innings, seven hits, four runs, two walks, and three strikeouts. Centenary's Taylor Henry (2-2) earned the win by delivering 7.2 innings in the start. He struck out eight, walked three, and yielded four runs on nine hits.
Up Next
Dallas gets back on the diamond next weekend at top-ranked Trinity University. A doubleheader starts the series on March 22.