Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The Loyola Wolf Pack earned their third win of the season over a Top 25 team Friday, splitting a doubleheader to start a three-game series with the SSAC foe
WESTWEGO – The Loyola Wolf Pack bounced back from a loss in Game 1 Friday with a win in the nightcap, defeating No. 22 Middle Georgia State 7-2 in Game 2 of the three-game series. The Knights earned a 9-2 win to start the doubleheader, but the Wolf Pack forced a rubber match Saturday.
First pitch of Game 3 is set for 1 p.m. at Segnette Field.
Game 1: No. 22 Middle Georgia State 9, Loyola 2
Loyola got on the board first in the bottom half of the opening frame. Zach Cook doubled with one out, then moved to second off a ground out. Cook later scored on a balk by MGA starter Logan Carter to give the Wolf Pack a 1-0.
Wolf Pack starter Matthew Champagne pitched well through the first two innings, tallying three strikeouts while only giving up one hit. Middle Georgia State, however, loaded the bases to start the third inning with an error and two hits that didn't leave the infield. A 3-6 double play scored the first run for the Knights, then they added two more to take a 3-1 lead.
Middle Georgia State used three Wolf Pack errors and five hits to score four more in the fourth and take a 7-1 lead, then two more in the sixth to answer a Loyola run, 9-2. Payton Alexander recorded an RBI double in fifth to cut MGA's lead to 7-2, but the Knights added the insurance runs a half-inning later.
Loyola did load the bases in the final inning, but it stranded the base runners to total of 11 runners left on base for the game.
Game 2: Loyola 7, No. 22 Middle Georgia State 2
After the Knights scored two in the first inning, Loyola answered with two runs off a hit and four errors in the second inning. With two outs, the inning was kept alive with an error by the MGA left fielder, then two errors on the shortstop on the same play scored pinch-runner Landon Trosclair. Jase Biehl got the inning's only hit to put runners on the corners, then a double steal scored Aaron Davis to tie the game, 2-2.
Wes Anderson gave up the lone two runs in the first inning, then he put six straight zeros on the board with nine strikeouts over his seven innings of work. He faced trouble in the sixth, though, with two runners on base and no outs, but Anderson and his second baseman Brandon Duhon executed a perfect pick-off play at second to record the first out. The Loyola starter would go on to hold the Knights to nothing in the sixth and seventh before giving the ball to Brett Fisackerly.
The Wolf Pack closer picked up the win in relief with two scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth. Fisackerly gave up two hits during his outing and he also recorded a pair of strikeouts.
While Fisackerly was holding the Knights down, the Loyola offense scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth to set up the win. Allen Dennis started the frame with a single to center, which was followed up by Payton Alexander reaching base on an infield error. After that, the Pack used a couple of bunts, similar to what MGA did to Loyola in Game 1, to make the Knights defense think quickly.
Bunts by Ross Selvaggi and Gabriel Trastoy, with a wild pitch mixed in-between, scored three runs for the Wolf Pack to give them a 5-2 lead. The Wolf Pack perfectly executed bunts with runners at third base, which led to the runs scoring. Bases-loaded walks by Duhon and Dennis brought the game to its final score of 7-2.
"(Game 1) was the first game this year where we just weren't ourselves. We weren't doing what we do. We know who we are. We're a team that is smart that can execute baseball, so if we get outside of that, we're not very good. In the first game, the thing that we did really well was we squared a bunch of balls up against a really good pitcher. He had a bunch of strikeouts, but we also squared a bunch of balls up against him. Other than that, we didn't do much. We played bad defense, we did not execute plays, we did not run the plays properly, and we haven't had a bad performance like that all year.
So that's what we addressed between games, if we're going to be any good, then we have to know who we are, and we have to execute what we do well. And I think the second game was flipped. We didn't get a bunch of hits, we had some tough pitchers going against us. When we did get some base runners, we were able to execute what we do well, and that was the difference in the game. We executed the small things that we are capable of executing."
On Wes Anderson's pitching performance:
"That was huge. He settled in, he threw strikes, he mixed pitches, he competed, and he was sick on top of it. We needed that to help save some of our bullpen for tomorrow, and if he doesn't settle in early then it changes the rest of the weekend. I don't know what'll happen tomorrow, but we still have our bullpen available after that performance; he was outstanding."
Pack Facts
With hits in each of the games Friday, Payton Alexander moved his hit streak to 12 games while also pushing his on-base streak to 21 games.
Wes Anderson recorded a career-high nine strikeouts in Game 2 over his seven innings of work.
With a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning, Allen Dennis tallied his 100th career RBI
Loyola earned its third win over a Top 25 opponent this season. The Wolf Pack is 3-3 in games against Top 25 foes.
Brett Fisackerly continues to put zeros on the board when he's on the mound. He pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Game 2, and that's now 8.1 innings of scoreless ball. He also leads the team with seven appearances and is 1-0 on the season after earning the win Friday. He leads the team with two saves as well.
You can keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.
