Baseball wins first game at Cajun Collision

STERLINGTON, La. – The Loyola University New Orleans baseball team started the season 4-0 with a win in its Cajun Collision opener Thursday night, defeating Georgetown College (Ky.), 11-4, in Sterlington, Louisiana. After trailing early, the Wolf Pack scored 10 runs in the third through fifth innings to run away with the victory. 
 

Loyola will next take on No. 21 Texas Wesleyan and Texas A&M-Texarkana at 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday to conclude the tournament. Brady Bowen and Matthew Weil are scheduled to start on the bump for the Wolf Pack, respectively. 
 

Georgetown struck first in the opening frame, but an RBI single by Anthony Fernandez in the bottom of the first scored Prescott Marsh to quickly tie the game, 1-1. The Tigers used five hits to score three runs in the top of the second, taking a 4-1 advantage, however, the Wolf Pack had an answer in the bottom of the third. Marcus Steen walked with one out to start things, then Marsh doubled to cut the deficit to 4-2. After Collin Zeringue reached base on an error to put two on, Fernandez came through again with a two-RBI double, 4-4. 
 

Loyola started to create separation in the next inning, plating three more runs to take a 7-4 lead. A double by Marsh scored Jake Mills, 5-4, and that was followed up by a two-run homer by Zeringue. Four more runs in the fifth inning blew the game open in Loyola's favor, and that rally started with Kason Cullins being hit by a hit to lead off the frame. Landon Manson singled two batters later to put runners on the corners with one out, and Mills made it an 8-4 lead with a single to right-center. Brandon Mooney picked up an RBI on a double during the next at-bat, and Marsh brought the next two runs, 11-4, home on a single through the right side. 
 

Stephen Still earned his second win of the year after striking out eight in 4.2 innings of the seven-inning game. After giving up the four runs in the first two innings, only two runners reached base for the rest of his outing, and those came on a walk and an infield error. Frank Fernandez relieved Still in the fifth and quickly got a groundout to end the inning, then he worked the sixth without any damage. Andrew Riedell finished things off in the seventh with a strikeout as well. 
 

Pack Facts

• Loyola's 11 runs were the most scored by the team in a game this season. The Pack also combined for 11 hits, marking the third time the team has reached double digits in the hits column in the first four games of 2024. 

• Prescott Marsh was perfect at the plate, going 3-for-3 while also drawing a walk in his four plate appearances. In his second multi-hit outing in four games so far with the Pack, the freshman hit two doubles, drove in four runs, and scored three himself. 

• Anthony Fernandez, Jake Mills, and Landon Manson each also had multiple hits on Thursday, with one of Fernandez's being a double.

• Through the first four games of the season, Fernandez leads Loyola with a .538 batting average, recording a hit in seven of his first 13 at-bats this year. Marsh is second on the team at .400, with six hits in 15 at-bats. 

• Both of Collin Zeringue's hits this season have been home runs. 

• Stephen Still has thrown at least seven strikeouts in each of his first two games this season, with seven in the LSUA win and eight on Thursday against Georgetown. 

• This is also the first time in Still's career that he's gotten the pitching win in both of his first two outings of the season.