Baseball goes 3-0 at Cajun Collision

STERLINGTON, La. – The Loyola Wolf Pack baseball stayed unbeaten at the Cajun Collision and overall with a pair of wins on Friday over No. 21 Texas Wesleyan and Texas A&M-Texarkana. The Wolf Pack (6-0) started the day with a 4-0 win over the Rams before winning, 3-2, late against the Eagles. 
 

Loyola is set to host Thomas University next Friday and Saturday in its first SSAC series of the season. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Friday starting at 1 p.m. before concluding the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. 
 

Game 1: (RV) Loyola 4, #21 Texas Wesleyan 0 (7)

Brady Bowen was terrific in his second start of the season, striking out nine in six innings of work. He didn't give up a hit until the fifth inning as well, only allowing two on the day to begin the season 2-0 as a starter. After he walked the first batter he saw in the game, he retired 14 straight before the Rams got a couple of base runners on in the fifth. 
 

The Wolf Pack struck first in the second inning, scoring three runs without recording a hit. Collin Zeringue and Kason Cullins were both hit by a pitch to put two on with one, then Marcus Steen walked to load the bases. Jake Mills brought home the first run on a fielder's choice that resulted in no outs for the TWU defense, and Brandon Mooney and Jed Cambre walked and hit by a pitch during the next two at-bats to make it a 3-0 lead. 
 

After going scoreless in the next four innings, Loyola added to its lead in the top of the seventh. Mooney walked with one out, and Cambre put two on base when he singled to left field during the next at-bat. After an error on the pitcher, who threw the ball away on a failed pickoff attempt at second, put both runners in scoring position, an infield single by Prescott Marsh made it a 4-0 lead for Loyola. 
 

Payton Cooper pitched the seventh for Loyola, as he preserved the shutout win with a strikeout. 
 

Game 2: (RV) Loyola 3, Texas A&M-Texarkana 2 (7)

Both teams scored a pair of runs in the third inning, as the Wolf Pack pushed two runs across in the top half only to have the Eagles answer in the bottom half. Cullins led off the frame with a single, and he moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Landon Trosclair. Cambre came through with an RBI single, then Mooney came home on a double steal, 2-0. Texarkana tied it in the next half-inning with a two-run homer.  
 

Loyola scored the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh. Anthony Fernandez singled to start things off, and Zeringue moved him into scoring position with a gourndout to second. Jake Mills came through during the next at-bat with a softly hit ball in between the Eagles' second baseman and right field to bring home Fernandez.
 

Nathan Monceaux earned the win in relief after entering the game in the sixth inning. With the game tied, 2-2, the sophomore inherited a runner in scoring position with one out, and he needed just five pitches to get a line out and a groundout to set up Loyola's top half of the seventh. Monceaux made quick work with two strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh inning, too. 
 

Matthew Weil got the start for the Wolf Pack and struck out six in 4.1 innings of work, and Hunter Ponson pitched one inning while allowing just one hit. 
 

Pack Facts

• Loyola's 4-0 victory against No. 21 Texas Wesleyan was the team's first shutout of a ranked team since March 13, 2021, when the Pack swept No. 14 Lyon College, winning 5-0 in Game 2 of that series. 

• The Wolf Pack's 6-0 start to 2024 ties a program record for best record through the first six games of a season in the modern era. Loyola also got off to a 6-0 start in 2012 and 2020. 

• In his best start with the Wolf Pack, Brady Bowen got his second win of the season after pitching a career-high six shutout innings while only allowing two hits. His nine strikeouts were also a new career high, as his previous best was seven Ks. 

• The two winning pitchers for the Wolf Pack on Friday, Bowen and Nathan Monceaux, each picked up their seventh career wins at the Cajun Collision. 

• Kason Cullins and Brandon Mooney have gotten on base in all six games so far this season. Jed Cambre and Marcus Steen have played in five out of the six games, and both players have made it to first in all five of those as well. 

• Cambre was almost perfect on the day, with two hits in each game, a combined 4-for-5 at the plate. In seven at-bats this season, he has five hits, for a team-leading batting average of .714. 

• Tucker Ganley has gotten a hit in both of his pinch hitting appearances this season. 
   

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