Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The Loyola baseball team opened the day with a win at Blue Mountain before losing the second game on a walk-off
BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – The Loyola Wolf Pack baseball team split another doubleheader with a Southern States Athletic Conference foe, winning Game 1 of the series 5-2 before a 9-8 loss to Blue Mountain College to end the day. The two teams will play a rubber match on Sunday, and first pitch is set for 1 p.m.
Game 1: Loyola 5, Blue Mountain 2
With Stephen Still on the mound, the Wolf Pack jumped out to a 3-0 lead with one run each in the second, fourth and fifth innings. A walk for Kason Cullins started the frame, then Christopher Bohrer made it runners on the corners with one out after reaching on a fielder's choice. Aaron Davis came through for the Pack with a single to right field that pushed across the first run of the game. In the fourth, Loyola, again, got the leadoff man on board, using a double by Luke Clement to put pressure on the Toppers' defense. Gabriel Trastoy picked up the RBI two batters later with a single to left, giving the Pack a 2-0 lead. In the fifth, Payton Alexander started with a leadoff single, which was followed up by a single by Allen Dennis before a sacrifice fly by Clement made it a 3-0 lead for the Pack.
Still was dealing on the mound during that time, facing the minimum through the first four innings. He allowed hits in the first and second inning, but double-play balls allowed Still to only face three batters during those frames. The Toppers, however, final scratched a couple of runs across in the home half of the fifth. They used four hits to cut Loyola's lead to 3-2, but Still left two runners on base before putting up zeros on the board in the sixth and seventh innings. He finished the day with five strikeouts while allowing two earned runs on seven hits during his complete-game outing.
Like the other three innings, Loyola scored in, it got a leadoff man on in the sixth inning to help score two more runs. Bohrer started with a triple, then a walk for Davis and two errors by the BMC defense made it a 5-2 Loyola advantage.
Game 2: Blue Mountain 9, Loyola 8
The Wolf Pack dropped Game 2 in a back-and-forth affair, as at least one run was scored in seven of the nine innings played. After BMC took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, Loyola came back with two of its own in the top of the third, using a two-RBI single by Dennis to tie the game, 2-2. After the Toppers got one run back in the bottom of the third, Loyola pushed two across in the fourth to take its first lead, 4-3. Singles by Cameron Trosclair and Trastory, followed by Garrett Beadle getting hit by a pitch loaded the bases with one out. Davis put the ball in play during the next at-bat, reaching on an error to score the two runs. Blue Mountain, however, scored three runs in the next half inning to jump back ahead, 6-4.
After Loyola scored one in the fifth to make it a one-run deficit, it got two more in the seventh to regain the lead, 7-6. The Toppers, though scored two in the bottom of the seventh to jump back up 8-7. A Payton Alexander double in the eighth tied the game, but Blue Mountain walked it off in the ninth to split the two games.
Pack Facts
Loyola totaled 11 hits in Game 1 and 14 hits in Game 2. Seven different players had multi-hit games in Saturday's doubleheader.
Payton Alexander had two hits in Game 1 and three in Game 2. Alexander also scored three runs between the two games, and he's now at 146 runs scored for his career, which is fourth in Loyola history.
Allen Dennis crossed home plate twice in Game 2, and he's now up to 151 total runs in his career. He needs just four more runs to become Loyola's all-time runs leader.
Luke Clement's seven-game hit streak came to an end in Game 2, but he was walked to continue an on-base streak.
Christopher Bohrer has put together some solid performances at the plate in the last week. Bohrer is on a three-game hit streak, with two multi-hit games in that span.
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.
