Baseball on wrong side of one-run Decisions twice in Doubleheader Sweep
SHREVEPORT, La. – The University of Dallas baseball team (6-20, 2-9 SCAC) was stymied by tough pitching, as Centenary College of Louisiana (12-10, 8-2 SCAC) scratched out two victories on Friday night by a lone run. Dallas has dropped eight-straight, all against league foes, while the Gents have improved to 7-1 at home and won five in a row.
The scores were 3-2 and 1-0, respectively favoring the Maroon and White.
The Crusaders claimed an early one-run advantage during their first trip to the plate of the evening. Senior Luciano Villanueva (San Antonio, Texas) walked to begin the affair, and would eventually scamper in on a sacrifice fly out by freshman Patch Healy (Plano, Texas).
Centenary went scoreless in the bottom half, but would tack three-straight runs individually over the next trio of frames. A fly out by Ian Graham sacrificed an out, and allowed Dakota Brown to score and give the home squad the edge.
Brown compiled a perfect three-for-three effort in the box to reflect a game-high in hits. He added an RBI along with Kody Carson.
Sophomores Avery Arnold (McKinney, Texas) and JP Fasone (Englewood, Colo.) notched the other base knocks as the Gents held an 11-3 difference in that category. The tandem for UD did rip a double each.
Villanueva's sacrifice bunt in the fifth nipped the gap to 3-2, and an inning later a lightening warning delayed the contest for a while. Neither lineup had much thunder in it tonight.
Saddled with the setback was senior Martin Cronin (The Woodlands, Texas), who allowed three runs (two earned) in 5.2 innings. He battled around eight hits, a walk, and struck three opponents out.
Helping out of the bullpen was sophomore Cole Morden (Arlington, Texas) with two frames. The reliever allowed a hit, walk, and fanned one to keep the ballgame right where the Navy and White could rally.
Centenary's Holden Novak (6-1) started and hurled six innings to go along with his three-hit, two-run outing that was closed out by Taylor Henry. The reliever clinched the first of two saves with the last three innings thrown. Henry struck out seven batters in the opener.
Game two featured another pitchers' duel. Jake McFarland (4-1) for the Gents picked up from game one with another gem. The lefty fanned eight Crusaders while scattering four hits and a walk. Henry was awarded his seventh save of the campaign with a scoreless ninth.
Christian Sebastian got tabbed for the lone RBI in the seventh inning to propel the Maroon and White. Despite a 5-3 edge in the hits column, Dallas was placed behind after Sebastian's double in the seventh.
Collecting base knocks for the visitors were sophomore Alex Stack (Keller, Texas), seniors Hunter Berry (Keller, Texas) and Anthony Armstrong (Richardson, Texas), Healy, and Arnold.
Going the distance and setting a career-high mark in innings pitched in a game was sophomore Ryan Hammonds (Cedar Hill, Texas). His final line was a run earned, three hits, and a walk while fanning six.
UP NEXT
Series will be concluded at 1 PM at Centenary College. First pitch moved to 1 p.m.