The Wolf Pack and 11th-ranked Rams went back and forth today, with the visitors gaining the final edge
WESTWEGO, La. - In their final home series of the 2018 season, the Loyola University New Orleans baseball team dropped a tough game with No. 11 Mobile Friday night 7-5 at Segnette Field.
The Wolf Pack (20-28, 3-18) were able to start the game off with a run in the bottom of the first inning, with Charlie Seiter reaching on a single before Payton Alexander drove him in. In the third, Alexander came up clutch yet again, this time driving in Zachary Cook to make it 2-0 Loyola. Starter Gary Cavallo Jr. was stellar for the second-straight weekend, this time tossing six innings of one-run ball, exiting the game with a 2-1 lead.
However, Mobile (37-11, 14-5) plated three runners in the top of the seventh to make it 4-2. After Brandon Wilson Jr. singled to short, he later came around to score in the inning to cut the visitors lead to one. While the Rams upped their run total to seven in the following inning, the Pack were only able to score two more in the eighth, falling 7-5 in game one of this weekend's three-game series.
Games two and three, their final games at Segnette Field this season, will begin tomorrow at 1 p.m., with eight seniors set to be honored before the first game.
Wolf Pack Head Coach Doug Faust
"That game seemed to be the story of our conference season so far this year: play good teams, compete neck-and-neck. The game comes down to the free base-runners that we gave them, and then they got timely hits after we gave them free baserunners. They turn around and give us free baserunners, and we don't get enough timely hits and fall short."
"I told the guys afterwards that we really competed well. That was one of the best pitchers in the conference. We had really good at-bats. Gary threw great. We threw too many pitches early so he got over 100 pitches through six innings. He did a good job for us, but we didn't hold up."
"We just have to come in and do the same thing tomorrow. Hopefully the two seniors pitching tomorrow gives us a chance to win one tomorrow if not two. So we try to win the first game first, and then see if we can win the series after that."
Pack Facts
Zachary Cook stretched his hitting streak to 12 games today, and is batting .400 (18/45) with 12 runs scored, two doubles, four RBI and five stolen bases during that stretch.
Payton Alexander batted in two runners today, and now has seven RBI in his last four games.
Gary Cavallo Jr. tossed six strong innings in today's game, only allowing one run while striking out three.
Cavallo now owns a 1.69 ERA over 16 innings in his last three appearances for Loyola.
Freshman Gabriel Trastoy registered his first multi-hit game of his career, going 2-4 at the plate.
You can keep up with the Pack this season by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.
