SHERMAN, Texas - The Austin College baseball team found itself on the losing end of a 15-10 slugfest with Centenary College on Friday evening as the 'Roos opened up Southern Collegiate Athletic conference play. The defeat drops the 'Roos to 4-4 overall on the year.

Centenary jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first, and a two-run double by Gary Hewitt opened up a five run second inning for the Gents to make it 7-0. The 'Roos got two runs back in the bottom half of the inning, with Brandon Evans knocking in a run and Beau Beshires adding an RBI single, and Austin College would claw its way back to within two runs at 7-5 with a run in the third and two more in the fourth. Jake Webster and Zack Mahoney each had RBI doubles in the fourth to cut the margin down to two.

However, the Gents would put their second five-run inning of the game on the board in the fifth to push the lead to 12-5, and a two-run triple by Cody Crowder made it 14-5 after six. Justin Alphonse doubled home two runs in the bottom of the sixth to help cut it to a 14-8 game, and two more runs came home for Austin College in the seventh to make it 14-10. However, that's as close as things would get as Centenary tacked on one more insurance run and the 'Roos were shut down in the bottom of the ninth to make it a 15-10 final.

Mahoney went 3-for-5 to pace Austin College at the dish, and Webster went 3-for-6. Nick Flynn, Alphonse, Logan Ballard, and Beshires each had two hits for Austin College as the 'Roos at 16 hits as a team in the game. Jordan Miller took the loss for Austin College after surrendering seven runs on nine hits in 2.0 innings of work.

Austin College and Centenary will be back at it tomorrow for a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m.