No. 13 Loyola loses series finale

PULASKI, Tenn. – The No. 13 Loyola Wolf Pack couldn't complete the three-game sweep of Tennessee Southern on Saturday, dropping the series finale, 6-5. Loyola (35-12, 18-9 in SSAC) will close the regular season next Thursday and Friday with a three-game series against No. 25 William Carey at Tulane's Turchin Stadium. 
 

UT Southern scored all of its six runs in the first two innings, and it started with a five-run first inning. Kason Cullins picked up the first RBI of the game for Loyola in the second inning, briefly making it a four-run deficit, 5-1, before the Firehawks scored their sixth run in the bottom half of the frame, 6-1. 
 

The score would remain the same until Landon Manson hit a three-run home run in the fifth. Brandon Mooney singled and Jaxon Buratt walked before Manson's at-bat made the score 6-4. Cullins would later walk with the base loaded in the seventh to bring the game to its final score, 6-5. The Wolf Pack stranded the bases loaded in the seventh and eighth innings, though, to prevent the comeback. 
 

After UT Southern scored its six runs, Matthew Weil and and Andrew Riedell did a good job of preventing any more runs to cross over the next six innings. Weil threw four innings with four strikeouts, and Riedell pitched the next two with one strikeout to give Loyola's bats a chance. 

Pack Facts

• Landon Manson's fifth-inning home run was his fourth of the year. He has the second-most home runs on the team this season. 

• In five games this week, Manson totaled nine hits (9-for-19), two doubles, two homers, and 11 RBI. 

• Jaxon Buratt and Kason Cullins both extended their hitting streaks, now 13 games and 12 games, respectively, with singles on Saturday. 

• With two runs on Saturday, Jaxon Buratt became the second Wolf Pack player this season to score 50 runs. He's now tied for eighth on the program's single-season runs list.