SERIES PREVIEW: Baseball vs. Centenary College (4/23-4/24)
MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE
FIRST PITCH
The University of Dallas baseball team concludes the regular season on April 23-24 versus No. 18 Centenary College of Louisiana. A 12 p.m. twinbill is slated for Saturday, before the finale of the three-game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Dallas enters with a 10-27 record and 6-9 mark in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). The Crusaders are fifth place in the conference standings, and require a sweep of this weekend's opponent to force a tie. Dallas would hold the tiebreaker on Centenary and clinch one of the final two spots in the four-team SCAC Tournament. Southwestern University slots fourth with an 8-7 SCAC record and hold the tiebreaker after taking two-of-three games from UD last weekend on the road. The scoreboard for UD that series: (L, 11-4 | W, 2-0 | L, 8-4).
CRUSADER NOTES
- Home field has benefited Dallas of late, prevailing in seven of the last nine contests. This includes five of six league matchups and UD is 7-7 overall.
- Freshman Thomas Martin (Vancouver, Wash.) has reached safely in his last 20 straight games. This includes knocking a base hit in 18 through that span. Martin posted a 13-game hitting streak at one point, which marks a personal best and team-long this spring.
- Martin is the lone player hitting north of .300 with a .353-clip. The first baseman/outfielder paces the club with 42 hits, 22 RBI. He is tied with classmate Mark Resnick (Houston, Texas) with five doubles.
- Freshman Josh Abalos (Lewisville, Texas) is second on the team with 36 hits. Junior JP Fasone (Englewood, Colo.) and senior Luciano Villanueva (San Antonio, Texas) also have eclipsed 30 knocks with 33 and 31, respectively.
- Junior Avery Arnold (McKinney, Texas) is batting .310, has both doubles this season, and 10 of his 12 ribbies at Crusader Field. Arnold ranks fifth in SCAC with 14 stolen bases. Abalos has also cracked double-digits in thefts with 11.
- Villanueva (9-10) and Fasone (8-9) have only been caught once on the basepaths.
- Freshman Mark Peterson (Cincinnati, Ohio) is second on squad in run production with 19 RBI.
- Villanueva led the pitching staff with a complete-game, two-hit shutout last weekend. Both of the San Antonio, Texas, native's victories (2-3) are on complete efforts.
- Villanueva fanned a career-high nine Southwestern hitters and earned SCAC Co-Pitcher of the Week. It is his second time to earn the accolade and he has spun a 2.55 ERA.
- Junior William Marshall (Frisco, Texas) leads the club with 31 strikeouts. He has made 18 appearances and tossed 41 innings in relief. Marshall's ERA ranks second (Minimum # of qualifying appearances) with a 3.29 mark.
SCOUTING THE GENTS
Centenary College ranks 18th in D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25, and are 25-9 overall this season. The Maroon and White are in third place in the SCAC standings with a 9-6 league record. One victory in Irving, Texas, this weekend clinches a seed in the conference tournament. The Gents are 11-3 on the road and are coming off an 8-3 triumph over No. 20 University of Texas at Tyler on Tuesday in non-conference game. Centenary fell last weekend in SCAC action at No. 24 Texas Lutheran University (W, 7-5 (F/10) |L, 12-1 |L, 12-3).
Michael Schimpf paces the Gents' lineup with a .430 batting average. His mark ranks second in the conference. Schimpf also leads the team with 58 hits, 42 runs scored, three triples, and 10 stolen bases. He is second on squad with three home runs and third with 29 RBI. Cole Lavergne is second with 33 RBI. Chris Zapata is atop the leaderboard with four long balls, 13 doubles, and 35 runs driven in. That latter mark is tied for third best in SCAC. Dakota Brown (.387), Zapata (.331), Ian Graham (.328), and Aaron Quintanilla (.324) complete a quintet of players hitting over the .300 batting average mark.
Jackie Allen, Kaleb Kirk, and Holden Novak have combined for all but one of Centenary's 34 starts on the hill. Allen is 5-2 with a 2.95 earned-run-average through 61 innings tossed. Kirk has logged a team-high 68 innings, while posting a 8-4 record and 3.31 ERA. Kirk is the league leader for winning decisions. Novak (49) and Kirk (48) are second and tied for third, respectively, in total strikeouts in the league. Matthew Devillier has 29 strikeouts and a SCAC-most six saves.
HISTORY
Dallas is 6-9 in the all-time series versus the Gents. The Crusaders have dropped the past six straight in head-to-head matchups. In 2014, UD did sweep the Maroon and White in a three-game non-conference series in Shreveport, Louisiana. Last time the squads met at Crusader Field was that same season, with the Gents taking three (5-4 (11 inn.), 19-12 (7 inn.), and 16-4).
In 2015, Dallas was swept at the eventual SCAC Champions place (3-2, 1-0, and 8-4). Brown (3-3) and Quintanilla (2-2) were perfect at the plate. Brown tripled, scored run, and drove in a run. Novak pitched six innings. For the Crusaders, Arnold and Fasone recorded a double each and Villanueva drove in one. Juniors Blake Palmer (Coppell, Texas) and Cole Morden (Arlington, Texas) combined for 2.1 scoreless innings of relief. In the middle game of the series, Zapata scored the game-deciding run in the seventh. UD's current junior Ryan Hammonds (Cedar Hill, Texas) limited Centenary to that run on three hits while fanning six in eight frames.
SENIOR DAY
Prior to Sunday's contest, four players will be recognized as part of "Senior Day" for the Crusaders. Among the quartet are: Rene Vargas, Jr. (San Antonio, Texas), John Howard (McKinney, Texas), Villanueva, and Brian Donley (Chicago, Ill.).
SOCIAL MEDIA
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