Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The Wolf Pack traveled to Houston, Texas, Saturday to start a three-game series with the University of St. Thomas-Houston, sweeping a doubleheader to claim the series
HOUSTON – The Loyola Wolf Pack took two games from the University of St. Thomas-Houston Saturday, claiming their second straight series win to start the season. The Wolf Pack improve to 4-0 on the young season with a third game against UST set for Sunday at noon.
Saturday was the debut for St. Thomas' baseball team after a 51-year hiatus.
Game 1: Loyola 23, St. Thomas 1
Behind a 13-hit performance and Wes Anderson on the mound, the Wolf Pack easily walked away with the win against St. Thomas in the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader. The Wolf Pack had nine players record a hit - including three with two or more - and Anderson allowed three hits with four strikeouts.
Loyola scored seven runs in both the first and fifth innings, also plating three in the second and five in the fourth.
Chandler Strader picked up the first two RBI of the game in the first inning, then Landon Trosclair added two more three batters later. A Jase Biehl double scored two and Brandon Duhon plated another to finish off an inning that featured 11 batters at the plate.
With an 18-0 lead, Allen Dennis hammered his 19th career home run - his second of the season - to tie Loyola's all-time record, as he finished with three RBI. Strader and Patrick Crifasi also recorded long balls in the game as well.
Game 2: Loyola 7, St. Thomas 0
The Wolf Pack picked up right where they left off from Game 1, scoring three runs in the first inning en route to the win. The offense finished with seven hits while Wyatt Lankford recorded eight strikeouts in his five strong innings of one-hit ball.
Duhon and Dennis both scored off errors in the first inning, then Brandon Wilson Jr. singled to score Payton Alexander to give Loyola a 3-0 lead after the top of the first. Duhon later homered in the second inning to push the score to 4-0.
In the sixth inning, Duhon used smart baserunning to score again in the sixth, then he scored on a balk in the eighth inning. Alexander made it 7-0 in the ninth inning when he scored on a wild pitch.
Gary Cavallo Jr. pitched the final four innings with six strikeouts while allowing only five hits.
"I was pleased with how we played today. We certainly had some things we can clean up, but overall it was a solid performance."
Pack Facts
Loyola's 23 runs in Game 1 were the most runs scored by a Wolf Pack team since scoring 24 on Feb. 24, 2018.
Allen Dennis tied Loyola's all-time career home run record with his three-run home run in Game 1 Saturday. The junior now has 19 homers in his Wolf Pack career.
After setting a career mark in his first start of the season, Wyatt Lankford, again, set a new career-high with his eight strikeouts in Game 2 of the doubleheader.
Brandon Duhon scored seven total runs and recorded four hits in the two games Saturday.
Seven players had two or more RBI in Game 1, as Duhon (4), Chandler Strader (4), Dennis (3), Landon Trosclair (3), Jase Biehl (3), Michael Toscano (2) and Patrick Crifasi (2) all had clutch at-bats.
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