Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The Wolf Pack completed their third straight sweep of a Southern States Athletic Conference counterparts on Saturday
METAIRIE – Thanks to a pair of wins on Saturday, the Loyola Wolf Pack baseball team is entering the final week of the regular season red-hot. The Wolf Pack earned wins of 13-4 and 5-0 to make it 12 wins in the last 13 games, which includes eight straight wins and nine straight Southern States Athletic Conference victories.
Loyola is now 30-17 overall and 15-6 in league play, sitting comfortably in second place two games ahead of third-place William Carey, plus the tiebreaker, with three conference games left on the schedule. Before Loyola travels to Brewton-Parker next Thursday and Friday, it's set to host Senior Day against Louisiana Christian at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
Game 1: Loyola 13, Talladega 4
The Wolf Pack wasted no time pushing across runs in the first game of the doubleheader, using a single by Luke Clement and five straight walks to take an early 3-0 lead. Clement recorded another hit in the second inning, too, this time it was an opposite-field home run that carried over the right-field wall to give the Pack a 4-0 lead. In the fourth inning, Clement made it three straight at-bats with a hit, smashing his second home run of the day over the left-field wall. Allen Dennis was hit during the at-bat before Clement, so the no-doubter gave Loyola a 6-1 lead.
The Wolf Pack really put the game out of reach with seven more runs in the bottom of the fifth to extend the advantage to 13-1. The Wolf Pack only recorded three hits in the frame, but two errors by Talladega and seven walks helped put the crooked number on the board. Kason Cullins and Clement each had RBI doubles, and three bases-loaded walks helped the Wolf Pack's cause.
Stephen Still earned the win with five strong innings. The sophomore left-hander struck out five during his outing and only gave up one unearned run off five hits. Matthew Bratton entered to pitch the sixth, and he didn't need too many pitches to retire the Tornado batters 1-2-3. The senior did allow a couple of runs in the seventh, but it wasn't enough for Talladega to overcome Loyola's big lead.
Game 2: Loyola 5, Talladega 0
Loyola was held scoreless for the first four innings in the second game of the doubleheader, but Dennis ended the drought with a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth. Tucker Ganley started things off with an infield single, reaching second on an error by the third baseman, then two walks for Gabriel Trastoy and Cullins loaded the bases with one out. Dennis, the two-hole hitter, hit an opposite-field grand slam during the next at-bat to give the Pack a 4-0 lead. Clement stepped into the box after that and smashed another opposite-field home run - his third long ball of the day - to put Loyola up 5-0.
That was all the scoring Loyola needed because Jake Mills was dealing on the mound. Mills, who started the season at shortstop and made his first career start on the bump less than a month ago, pitched the complete-game shutout with four strikeouts. He only gave up one hit and threw just 80 pitches during his outing, collecting 14 groundball outs and seven flyouts. He also picked off a runner.
The freshman transfer from Ohio State had 1-2-3 innings in the first and second before allowing the lone Talladega hit of the ballgame in the third. He'd go on to have clean innings in the fourth, seventh and eighth innings, too.
Pack Facts
Stephen Still's sixth win ties him with Brett Fisackerly for the team lead in wins by a Loyola pitcher this season. There's also a 14-way tie in Loyola's record book for ninth place in single-season pitching wins.
Still racked up five strikeouts in five innings, giving him a total of 69 this season.
Jake Mills allowed just one hit in his complete-game shutout. That's the fewest hits allowed by the Wolf Pack in any game this season, including seven-inning games.
The last time Loyola allowed only one hit in a game was March 20, 2021, in a 6-0 shutout of Stillman.
Payton Alexander recorded a hit in each game on Saturday, bringing his career total to 218 hits. That's the fifth-highest hit total in a career in Loyola history.
Alexander also stole a base in each game and now has 70 stolen bases for his career, which is the third-most in a career in Loyola history.
Allen Dennis hit his second grand slam in the month of April to vault him over 200 career RBI. He's now batted in 202 runs in his career.
It was the 13th home run of the season for Dennis, and the 45th of his career. The 13 home runs are tied for the most in a single season in Loyola history.
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.
