Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 With one win on Friday at Brewton-Parker, the Wolf Pack has secured the No. 2 seed at next week's SSAC Championship
MOUNT VERNON, Ga. – The Loyola Wolf Pack and Brewton-Parker Barons ended the regular season with a doubleheader on Friday, with the teams splitting the two games. BPC won the first contest 3-2 then the Pack took the series finale in a slugfest, 12-8.
The 1-1 day ends Loyola's regular season with a 31-20 overall record and a 16-8 mark in the Southern States Athletic Conference. That'll be enough to give Loyola the No. 2 seed at next week's SSAC Championship since the Pack owns the tiebreaker over William Carey. As of now, the No. 2 seed in the tournament is scheduled to play the 4 p.m. game on Wednesday, May 4, at Historic Golden Park in Columbus, Ga.
Game 1: Brewton-Parker 3, Loyola 2
The Wolf Pack tried to even the series with a seventh-inning comeback attempt in the first game on Friday, but BPC held on to the 3-2 win. While Stephen Still put up another solid performance on the mound, Loyola's offense only had two base runners in scoring position before the seventh. Luke Clement's second hit of the game in the third inning put runners on the corners with two outs, but no runs were able to come home in the frame. Then Clement reached base on an error and advanced to second on a wild pitch with two outs in the sixth, but he was left stranded then, too.
In the seventh and trailing 3-0, Aaron Davis doubled down the left-field line with one out to get something started for the Wolf Pack, then a home run by Cameron Trosclair quickly made things interesting. However, the Barons' pitcher recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.
Brewton-Parker scored its first two runs in the second inning before adding an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Still got the start for Loyola and struck out 10 during his 5.2 innings of work. He did allow the three earned runs on seven hits, though.
Game 2: Loyola 12, Brewton-Parker 8
Loyola exploded for 14 hits in the second game of the doubleheader, as Alexander got things going with a two-run home run in the first inning. Allen Dennis doubled with one out two at-bats prior, and the Wolf Pack led 2-0 early, however, Brewton-Parker scored four in the bottom half of the frame to jump ahead 4-2.
The Pack, though, bounced back with five runs in the third to take the lead for good. Ryan Smilari's double and a single by Kason Cullins started the rally, then back-to-back singles by Dennis and Clement tied the game, 4-4. Garrett Beadle singled with the bases loaded to score one and a bases-loaded walk for Christopher Boher brought home another, 6-4, then the inning was capped off by another scoring on a BPC infield error, 7-4.
After the Barons scored two to cut the Loyola lead to one, Alexander hit his second homer of the game in the fifth inning to extend the advantage to two runs, 8-6. Three at-bats later, with Beadle on base, Gabriel Trastoy doubled to make it a 9-6 ballgame. Three more runs in the seventh gave the Pack complete control, as Kason Cullins scored two on a double to left-centerfield and Dennis singled to plate one more, 12-7.
Josh Orr got credited with the win after pitching 2.2 early innings. He struck out one and allowed a couple of runs to score off two hits during his outing. Matthew Weil also pitched in an important role, not allowing BPC to score any runs during his three innings of two-hit ball.
Pack Facts
With hits in each game, Luke Clement extended his streak to 15-straight games with a hit. He's also reached base in 29 consecutive contests.
Stephen Still struck out a career-best 10 batters in Game 1, a feat he's achieved three times. With a total of 79 strikeouts this season, Still needs to throw just two more to break Loyola's single-season strikeouts record.
Payton Alexander notched his first career game with multiple home runs. He finished 2-for-3 at the plate in Game 2 with three runs scored, three RBI, and two walks.
After going 4-for-5 at the plate in Game 2, Allen Dennis has tied Loyola's all-time hits record with 240 career hits. Dennis will have a chance to break the record at the upcoming SSAC Championship tournament.
Dennis also continues to climb other Wolf Pack records. One of his four hits was a double, giving him 51 total doubles, the second-most in a career in Wolf Pack history.
With his 50th hit of the season in Game 2, Clement joined Dennis and Alexander as the only Wolf Pack players with at least 50 hits in 2022. Clement also leads the team with a batting average of .400.
Joshua Orr now owns a 3-1 record this season, with all three of his wins coming in relief appearances.
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
