WESTWEGO – The Loyola University New Orleans baseball team earned its fifth Southern States Athletic Conference series win of the season on Friday, taking two games from Blue Mountain Christian, 5-1 and 12-10 at Segnette Field. The Pack (26-15, 11-6 SSAC) will go for the sweep on Saturday, as first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. The team's seniors will be honored prior to the game as well. 
 

Game 1: #12 Loyola 5, Blue Mountain Christian 1

Both teams got on the board in the first inning, both scoring on sacrifice flies as well. After the Toppers went up 1-0 in the top half, Brandon Mooney and Cole Romero started the bottom half with a single and walk to quickly put the pressure on BMCU. A groundout by Luke Clement moved the runners, and Kason Cullins tied the game with a fly out to center field, 1-1. 
 

Cullins put the Pack ahead in the fourth inning, smacking a solo homer off the scoreboard in left field to start the frame. Christopher Bohrer kept things going with a single during the next at-bat, and Landon Trosclair walked two batters later with two outs. Aaron Davis then made it a 3-1 Loyola lead with a single to left field. 
 

The Pack scored two more runs in the sixth inning, as back-to-back doubles by Bohrer and Anthony Fernandez gave Loyola a 4-1 lead. After Jake Mills put runners on the corners with a single, Trosclair brought the next run home, 5-1, off a single to left. 
 

Stephen Still pitched a gem to earn his sixth win of the season, going the distance while allowing three hits in his seven innings. He also struck out six while walking just two to face only five over the minimum during his outing. The left-hander gave up two hits in the first inning and walked one in the second, but he pitched 1-2-3 innings in the third, fourth and sixth innings to keep the Toppers' bats at bay. 
 

Game 2: #12 Loyola 12, Blue Mountain Christian 10

The first inning provided some fireworks in the second game of the day, too, as both teams combined for five runs. After the Toppers scored three runs off three hits and an error, Cole Romero cut into the lead with a two-run home run in the bottom half of the frame to bring the score to a 3-2 BMCU lead. The Pack added four more runs in the next inning, giving them a 6-3 lead after two frames. Mills led off with a single then stole second, and Mooney was hit by a pitch with two out to put a couple of runners on base. Romero picked up his third RBI of the game with a single to right field, then Clement walked to load the bases. Cullins stepped to the plate after that and cleared the bases with a three-RBI double to left-center. 
 

Loyola wasn't done adding to its lead either, scoring three more in the third inning. With Mills and Davis on base, Mooney hit one down the right-field line to plate the first two runs then Romero picked up another RBI with a single through the right side of the infield to give the Pack a 9-3 advantage. Another run came in the fourth when Mills singled up the middle to score Clement, 10-3. 
 

Brady Bowen entered to pitch in the second inning and sat down the first 12 batters he faced to quell the Toppers' bats while Loyola added runs in a hurry. The Toppers, however, finally found some offense, scoring four runs off Bowen, who finished his outing with seven strikeouts while allowing those runs on six hits. 
 

BMCU scored two runs each in the sixth and seventh innings and three more in the eighth to cut the lead to 11-10. Leading, 10-7, Loyola got its 11th run in the bottom of the seventh when Romero picked up his fifth RBI of the game to score Trosclair. 
 

With the Toppers threatening in the eighth, Grant Goodbee came in and threw four pitches to get an inning-ending strikeout with the tying run on third base. Mills made it a 12-10 lead in the bottom of the eighth when he executed a squeeze bunt play to perfection, then Goodbee closed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his second save of the season. 

Pack Facts

• This was the eighth weekend three-game series that Loyola has won this season. 

• The Wolf Pack combined to put up 17 hits in the second of the day, their second-highest hit total this season. Nine different players got a hit as well.

• Kason Cullins went opposite field for his sixth-career home run in Game 1. 

• Brandon Mooney scored four runs in the doubleheader, including three in the second game, to bring his season total to 55 runs. That's tied for the fourth most in the season in Wolf Pack history. 

• Cole Romero went 4-for-5 with a home run, five RBI, two runs, and a stolen base in Game 2. It was his team-leading eighth long ball of the season. 

• Romero's 19-game hitting streak came to an end, but his on-base streak extended to 58 games dating back to last season. His hitting streak was the longest of the season for a Wolf Pack player and the second-longest in the last two seasons. 

• In his first complete game this year, Stephen Still got his sixth win of the season, which leads the team. That's tied for 11th on Loyola's single-season wins list. 

• Still struck out six batters on Friday, giving him 72 for the season, which is already the fourth-most in a season in program history.

• Now with 229 career strikeouts, Still needs 11 more to set Loyola's all-time strikeouts record. 

• Brady Bowen retired 12 batters in a row en route to his third win of the season. Grant Goodbee got the save, his second of the season. Bowen and Goodbee now each have two saves this year to lead the team.
  
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