The Pack score four runs after drawing a trio of walks in the fourth inning, with Michael Toscano and Trace Messina III putting up impressive performances on the mound
WESTWEGO, La. – Drawing five walks off the visiting starter, the Loyola University New Orleans baseball team was able to plate five runs to Blue Mountain College's one, collecting their first conference victory of the season Friday night at Segnette Field.
Making his seventh start of the year on the mound for the Wolf Pack (16-23, 1-15 SSAC), Michael Toscano kept the Toppers (18-19, 8-8 SSAC) out of the run column for the first two innings, before the visitors took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. In the bottom half of the following inning, Brandon Wilson Jr. and Allen Dennis led it off with a pair of walks, before Charlie Seiter was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Sophomore Luke LaCoste was able to draw the third free pass of the inning for Loyola to score one run, with Zachary Cook driving a ball at the shortstop who misplayed it, scoring all three runs to put the Wolf Pack out in front 4-1.
In the sixth inning, Loyola handed the ball over to Trace Messina III, who pitched a career-best four innings of no-hit ball to help seal the victory. The Pack would add one more run in the seventh inning, a sac-fly from Wilson, to set the final score at 5-1 in favor of the home team.
The two teams will finish out their three-game series at Segnette tomorrow with a doubleheader at noon.
Wolf Pack Head Coach Doug Faust
"We battled; we walked too many guys and hit too many guys, but we made pitches when we had to. We didn't have a lot of good at bats, but we had good ones when we had to, good enough to get runs in. Any win right now just makes us feel better and hopefully lets us get rolling the rest of the way. I'm proud of them because they stuck with it, they didn't shut it down, they kept practicing
harder each week. So it's good to see us have results."
Pack Facts
Trace Messina III took the ball in the sixth inning and closed it out for Loyola, tossing a career-best four innings without allowing a single hit.
Jase Biehl went 1-4 from the plate today to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.
Michael Toscano turned in another brilliant performance on the mound for the Pack, going five innings and only allowing one run while striking out five batters.
Payton Alexander has now hit in six consecutive games, and is 10-23 with four doubles during that stretch.
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.
