Baseball wins non-conference matchup against Dillard

WESTWEGO – The Loyola University New Orleans baseball team returned to Segnette Field on Tuesday, defeating the Dillard Bleu Devils, 7-0, in non-conference action. The 15th-ranked Wolf Pack returns to Southern States Athletic Conference play this weekend, traveling to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to play a three-game series against Stillman College. 
 

The two teams will play a doubleheader on Friday starting at noon before the series finale at 1 p.m. on Saturday. 
 

The Wolf Pack got on the board early, as Jaxon Buratt singled with one out to start the first-inning rally. The bases would get loaded after Jed Cambre was hit by a pitch and Collin Zeringue singled to right field, then the first run scored when Marcus Steen singled to left. With runners on the corners, another double steal play for the Wolf Pack scored Zeringue to make it a 2-0 lead. Buratt scored again in the third inning after leading off by getting hit by a pitch. Zeringue picked up that RBI on a groundout to push the lead to 3-0. 
 

Buratt, again, contributed to the score, but this time he notched an RBI to give the Wolf Pack a 4-0 lead. He singled to center field to score Mooney, who walked and stole second. More insurance runs crossed the plate in the eighth, scoring three to extend the score to 7-0. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Aaron Davis scored Prescott Marsh, then Mooney doubled down the left-field line to plate Ayden Authement and Landon Manson. 
 

Nathan Monceaux looked sharp in his first start of the season, giving up just one hit with three strikeouts in three innings. After a 1-2-3 first inning, an error allowed the first Dillard baserunner to reach in the second before giving up his lone hit in the third. 
 

Payton Cooper pitched a clean fourth inning with a strikeout, as well as Matthew Weil recording an 11-pitch fifth inning. Hunter Ponson struck out one in his two innings of work, too, and Garrett Beadle pitched around some trouble in the eighth with three strikeouts. Reid Perkins finished things off in the ninth to preserve the shutout win. 
 

Pack Facts

• Loyola is now 4-0 against Dillard, outscoring the Bleu Devils 43-4 combined in those four games.

• The Pack stole 12 bases Tuesday. It was the most stolen bases for the team in a game since Feb. 23, 2020, when Loyola had 13 stolen bases against Rust College.

• Jaxon Buratt led the team with two hits and two runs scored, plus a walk and four stolen bases. 

• The last time a Loyola player had four or more stolen bases in a game was also in the 2020 season, when Brandon Duhon swiped four bags against LSU Alexandria.

• Aaron Davis hit his fifth double of the season in the fourth inning, tying him with Mooney and Marcus Steen for second on the team.