CLEBURNE, Texas — Southwestern baseball continued to work its magic against No. 24 Centenary, upsetting the nationally-ranked Gentlemen 12-9 to finish a perfect 4-0 against its conference rival from Louisiana.
The first time the two teams met, Southwestern ended the nation's longest winning streak with a 9-7 victory over then-ranked No. 14 Centenary. The Gentlemen entered that weekend conference series on a program-record 18-game winning streak and left their encounter with the Pirates on a three-game slide.
This time, Southwestern ended Centenary's conference tournament run.
Southwestern capitalized on early Centenary miscues with three runs in the top of the first. Ted Lobkowicz hit a leadoff single, and then Maxwell Mims drew a walk, followed by both advancing one base on a balk. Jake Harris struck out swinging, but a dropped ball and an error by catcher Ben Bridges resulted in two Pirate runs and Harris advancing to third. Jacob Tanner followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to give Southwestern a 3-0 lead.
Bryce Debbs powered through another run for Southwestern in the second inning, hitting a solo blast to left field. The 6-foot-7, 230-pound senior, provided a new wrinkle for Southwestern against Centenary after not playing during the regular season three-game series. Debbs started the season slowly, hitting 5-for-26 (.192) through the first 11 games, falling out of the lineup.
Debbs returned to the lineup on April 13, the Tuesday after the Centenary series, and has been on a tear ever since, hitting .342 with two doubles, a triple, and two home runs over the final 10 games heading into today, driving in 11 RBIs and scoring 10 runs.
Batting out of the ninth spot as the designated hitter against Centenary, Debbs went 4-for-5, hitting a home run, a pair of doubles, and a single while driving in three RBIs and scoring two runs.
Centenary scored two runs each in the bottom of the second and third innings to briefly tie the game, scoring on a Bridges two-RBI double in the second. Tyler Welch grounded out with runners in the corners to score Brady Robinson in the third, and Bridges followed with an RBI single.
The Pirates opened the fourth inning with three consecutive singles, scoring Lance Kruse on a Debbs single up the middle. Lobkowicz laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Landon Durdin and Debbs into scoring position, ending Centenary starter Connor Lee's afternoon.
Luke Royle took over on the mound and walked Maxwell Mims to load the bases, then produced back-to-back balks to score Durdin and Debbs. After walking Jake Harris, Royle was replaced by Parker Primeaux, the All-SCAC First Team relief pitcher.
Tanner welcomed him with an RBI single through the left side to score Mims. An inning later, Durdin added another run with an RBI single down the right-field line, scoring Daniel Montgomery Jr., who reached on a leadoff double. Debbs added another run for Southwestern in the top of the seventh, hitting an RBI-double to right-center to score Montgomery, who opened the inning with a walk.
After holding the SCAC's second-most prolific run-scoring offense at bay for most of the game, Southwestern's newly-minted All-SCAC First Team starting pitcher Travis Harvey finally got in trouble in the seventh inning. Harvey surrendered a leadoff home run to Preston Ludwick, walked Robinson, and gave up back-to-back doubles for two runs to end his evening.
Trey Schwarz replaced Harvey and surrendered another run before getting out of the inning with a 10-8 lead. Preston Witt bought Southwestern some breathing room with a two-out, two-run home run to left-center, his fifth of the season.
Schwarz, who earned All-SCAC honorable mention, was solid the rest of the way, surrendering a single unearned run in the eighth off a sacrifice fly and retiring the side in order in the ninth to earn his fourth save.
Harvey completed six innings, giving up eight runs, seven of which were earned, with five strikeouts to pick up his fourth win of the season. Southwestern's four runs scored off Primeaux tied for the most he's surrendered all season.
Southwestern improved to 19-18 with the win, advancing to play Trinity on the same night for an opportunity to face Texas Lutheran for the championship on Sunday.