Loyola wins Game 3 Sunday at Faulkner

MONTGOMERY, ALA. – The Loyola Wolf Pack baseball team won Game 3 of its three-game series against Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) leaders Faulkner University on Sunday, splitting a doubleheader on the road. In a pitchers' duel in the first game, the Eagles won 4-1, while the Pack took the series finale 11-4. 

Loyola (16-5, 7-5 SSAC) will continue to play away from Segnette Field next week, first traveling to Louisiana Christian at 3 p.m. on Tuesday before three games in Lawrenceville, Georgia, to play No. 2 Georgia Gwinnett and Talladega College.  

Game 1: Faulkner 4, (RV) Loyola 1 

Loyola struck first with a run in the first inning. Marcus Steen walked with one out to start things, then he scored from first two batters later after a double down the line by Jed Cambre, 1-0. Faulkner, however, answered in the bottom of the second with a two-out rally that resulted in two runs, 2-1. The Pack got a couple of walks in the second and third inning, as well as a hit batter in the fourth, but they couldn't bring the baserunner around to score during those chances. 

The Eagles pushed two more runs across in the bottom of the half, extending their lead to 4-1. 

Stephen Still pitched well, giving up the four runs - three earned on six hits with five strikeouts in five innings. Frank Fernandez came in to pitch a scoreless sixth, keeping Loyola within three runs, but Faulkner's starter gave up just the one hit to the Pack, pitching all seven innings of Game 1.  

Game 2: (RV) Loyola 11, Faulkner 4

A second-inning Eagle home run opened the scoring in Game 2, and Faulkner held a 2-0 lead through the first four. 

After having a base runner in each of the first four innings, things broke open for the Pack in the fifth. Prescott Marsh and Aaron Davis were both hit by pitches in back-to-back trips at the plate, and a Jake Mills walk loaded the bases with no outs. Then it was back to the top of the order, where Jaxon Buratt singled up the middle for the second time in the game to score Marsh and Davis. The bases became loaded once again, as Marcus Steen drew a walk, then Brandon Mooney singled to right field to drive Mills home. Loyola would get one more run in the frame, as Buratt scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2. 

A new pitcher came in for Faulkner in the sixth, but he similarly loaded the bases with no outs by walking Mills and hitting both Davis and Buratt with pitches. All three scored later in the inning, as Steen and Collin Zeringue had RBI singles to bring in Davis and Buratt, and Mooney again drove in Mills, reaching on a fielder's choice. Mooney later scored, as Landon Manson dropped one between a couple of outfielders in left center to give Loyola an 8-2 cushion. 

Faulkner got one back in the bottom of the seventh, opening the inning with a solo home run, but Loyola responded well in the top of the eighth with three runs on three hits from Zeringue, Manson, and Davis, who doubled to make it 11-3.  

Matthew Weil got the start in Game 2, but Payton Cooper got the win in another impressive relief appearance, tossing a season-high five innings while only allowing one run. Grant Goodbee and Nathan Monceaux came in to pitch the last two innings, keeping the lead intact. 

Pack Facts

• Loyola's 11-run total in the second game marks the 10th time this season that the team has put up double digits in the runs column. 

• Four different players (Jaxon Buratt, Brandon Mooney, Collin Zeringue, Landon Manson) had multiple base hits in Game 2. Mooney and Zeringue each had three hits.

• Payton Cooper's win in Game 2 was his second of the season out of the bullpen. His five innings pitched were also a season high. 

• In Game 2, five different players (Jed Cambre, Zeringue, Landon Trosclair, Prescott Marsh, Aaron Davis) combined for seven stolen bases, with Trosclair and Marsh each stealing two.

• Aaron Davis now has 69 stolen bases in his Wolf Pack career, which is tied for the third-most in program history.