The Wolf Pack will look to bounce back with a doubleheader tomorrow, April 16, with first pitch slated for 1:00 pm.
(Mobile, Ala.)- The Loyola University New Orleans baseball team began a three-game series with Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) rival University of Mobile with a single game on Friday.
Despite taking an early lead, the Wolf Pack allowed Mobile to score eight runs in the sixth inning and fell 11-1 in the series opener.
With the loss, the Wolf Pack will take a 4-14 SSAC record, and 18-27 overall, heading into tomorrow's doubleheader.
Loyola has consistently scored runs early in games this season, and they continued that trend on Friday.
Blake Toscano (JR/Metairie, La.) opened the game with a single to left and added to his stolen base total to get on second base. After Rawlings Elam (SO/Houston, Tx.) flew out to right-center, advancing Toscano to third, Luis Anguizola (JR/David, Chiriqui, Panama), one of the most dangerous hitters in the NAIA, hit an RBI single to left, giving the Wolf Pack a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
After the Rams scored a run to tie it in the bottom half of the first, the game looked as though it would be a pitchers' duel. However, after Daniel Posway (SR/Sugarland, Texas) had masterfully pitched out of a couple of jams, Mobile exploded in the sixth inning. They tagged Posway for five runs, and added three more off Dylan Gregoire (SR/Baton Rouge, La.), who came on in relief, opening up the game with a 9-1 lead heading into the seventh inning.
The Wolf Pack only managed six hits off of the Rams starting pitcher Garrett Waters, who pitched a complete game to earn the win, and dropped the game in eight innings, due to the run rule, by a final score of 11-1.
Anguizola had the only RBI, his 45th of the year, for Loyola and was two-for-three at the plate on the night. Toscano went two-for-four and his stolen base was his 33rd on the year, which is fifth in the NAIA. Ben Condara (SO/Houston, Tx.) and Jordan Wilson (SO/San Francisco, Ca. ) each added a hit for the Wolf Pack.
Posway (1-7), despite throwing five strong innings, took the loss after the tumultuous sixth inning and gave up six runs, all of them earned, on thirteen hits with a walk and a strikeout. Gregoire, who recently returned from an offseason injury, gave up three runs, while Stephen Price (FR/Houston, La.) and Joel Buhler (SR/Mandeville, La.) each allowed one run in relief.
The Wolf Pack will look to rebound from the loss with a doubleheader tomorrow, April 16, starting at 1:00 pm.
