BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – The Loyola Wolf Pack baseball team returns home from Blue Mountain, Mississippi, with a 14-3 overall record and a 6-3 mark in Southern States Athletic Conference play after splitting a doubleheader with Blue Mountain Christian on Saturday. Loyola won the first game of the day, 13-0, before dropping the series finale, 10-9.
The Pack is back at home for one game next week before another SSAC road trip. It'll host Madonna University (Mich.) at 6 p.m. on Tuesday then travel to Faulkner for a three-game series starting on Friday.
Game 1: (RV) Loyola 13, Blue Mountain Christian 0
Stephen Still was terrific on the mound, and the Wolf Pack offense scored 13 runs off 12 hits to easily give Loyola the win in the first game of the doubleheader. Still pitched six of the seven innings and faced just one over the minimum to pick up his fourth win of the season. The senior also struck out three, while allowing just three base runners throughout his outing. He hit a batter in the first inning, then the only two hits he gave up in the third and fourth innings resulted in double plays by the Loyola defense.
Loyola scored three runs in the third inning to set the pace of the game. A Jaxon Buratt double scored Jake Mills, then a double by Collin Zeringue brought home Brandon Mooney and Buratt. Two more runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings gave the Pack a 7-0 advantage. Zeringue reached on an error that scored Marcus Steen, and Zeringue scored later in the inning, 5-0. In the sixth, back-to-back singles by Mills and Mooney plated Prescott Marsh and Landon Trosclair to make the score 7-0.
The Wolf Pack blew the game open even more in the seventh, pushing across six more runs, 13-0. A two-run home run by Jed Cambre started the scoring, then Mooney, Buratt and Cambre picked up RBI to really put the game out of reach.
Game 2: Blue Mountain Christian 10, (RV) Loyola 9
After Loyola struck first with a run in the top of the first, the Toppers took a 4-1 lead during the next half-inning. The Pack was able to tie it by the fifth inning, though, scoring two in the second and another in the fifth.
A sacrifice fly in the first off the bat of Zeringue scored Mooney to take a 1-0 lead, then Loyola made cut into BMCU's lead, 4-3, after an RBI single by Aaron Davis and an error on the Toppers' catcher two batters later. Finally in the fifth, Steen singled through the left side to bring home Cambre to tie the game.
The Toppers went back ahead, 6-4, but Loyola responded with three runs in the seventh to take its first lead since the first inning, 7-6. A double by Cambre scored Mooney, who singled one batter earlier, and Landon Manson gave the Pack the lead, 7-6, with a single through the left side to score Zeringue and Cambre. After BMCU went back ahead, 8-7, Loyola again answered with a two-run eighth. Aaron Davis tripled with one out, then Mills scored the runner with a single up the middle one at-bat later. Trosclair, who was pinch running, stole second and advanced to third on a bad throw, and that set up an RBI groundout for Mooney to give Loyola a 9-8 lead.
BMCU would push two more across in the eighth to take the lead for good, 10-9.
Pack Facts
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Loyola has won all four series with Blue Mountain in head coach Jeremy Kennedy's tenure.
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Stephen Still is now 4-0 as a starting pitcher this year after six scoreless innings in Game 1 Saturday while only allowing two hits.
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Still is on the cusp of another Loyola record, as he's now tied for first in program history in career pitching wins with 23.
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Jed Cambre hit his first home run of the season to put the pack up 9-0 in the seventh inning of Game 1.
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Cambre also went 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI in Game 2.
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As a team, Loyola combined for eight stolen bases in Game 2, the most for the team in any game this season.
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Aaron Davis had two of those stolen bases, going 3-for-4 at the plate in Game 2 with a double, a triple, and two runs scored.
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With two hits in Game 1 and one in Game 2, Jaxon Buratt extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
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Brandon Mooney, who had two hits in each game, is now on an eight-game hitting streak.
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Marcus Steen also had two hits in Game 2 and is on a nine-game hitting streak.
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