JACKSON, Tenn. – The No. 4 seed Loyola Wolf Pack baseball team saw their time at the Southern States Athletic Conference Baseball Championship end on Friday, losing to top-seeded Faulkner, 4-0, to finish pool play with a 1-2 record. No. 8 Blue Mountain won Pool A, and it'll face No. 2 seed William Carey, which won Pool B, on Saturday in the title game. Both teams earned an automatic qualifier spot in the NAIA National Championship in the process.
Loyola (36-17) will find out its national tournament fate when the NAIA announces the field on Thursday, May 9, at 4 p.m. The selection show will be broadcast on the NAIA Youtube channel.
The Wolf Pack used a johnny wholestaff approach, as coach Jeremy Kennedy trotted out nine different pitchers throughout the contest with seven of the nine pitching a full inning.
Christian Callender started the game well, needing just eight pitches to get the first three outs of the game with one strikeout. Faulkner, though, got to Carter Holstein and Matthew Weil in the second, scoring two runs on three hits. Luca Tosca and Grant Goodbee followed that up with 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth. Thomas Haikiman and Nathan Monceaux faced four batters each in the fifth and sixth, as the Eagles made it a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, then they scored another run, 4-0, on Payton Cooper in the seventh. Hunter Ponson finished things off with a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth.
While the Wolf Pack bullpen did enough to keep Loyola in the game, the two Faulkner pitchers stifled their offense to just four hits on the day. Loyola got runners in scoring position in the third, fifth and eighth innings, but it couldn't string hits together to push any runs across.
Pack Facts
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Jaxon Buratt went 2-for-4 at the plate, marking his 25th multi-hit game of the year.
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Buratt has a team-high 72 hits this season, which is tied for the ninth-most in a season in program history.
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After a bunt single in the fifth inning, Aaron Davis stole his 30th base of the season. That's the fifth-most stolen bases in a season in program history.
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Jake Mills went 1-for-2 with a walk to bring his season batting average to .375, second-highest on the team among those with at least 100 at-bats.
SSAC Baseball Championship Schedule
Pool A: #1 Faulkner, #4 Loyola, #5 Mobile, #8 Blue Mountain Christian
Pool B: #2 William Carey, #3 Point, #6 Middle Georgia, #7 Thomas
Wednesday, May 1
10 am | #4 Loyola 9, #5 Mobile 3
1 pm | #8 Blue Mountain 15, #1 Faulkner 5
4 pm | #6 Middle Georgia 15, #3 Point 4
7 pm | #2 William Carey 9, #7 Thomas 5
Thursday, May 2
10 am | #8 Blue Mountain 12, #4 Loyola 7
1 pm | #1 Faulkner 5, #5 Mobile 1
4 pm | #7 Thomas 5, #3 Point 3
7 pm | #2 William Carey 13, #6 Middle Georgia 10
Friday, May 3
10 am | #5 Mobile 10, #8 Blue Mountain 5
1 pm | #1 Faulkner 4, #4 Loyola 0
4 pm | #6 Middle Georgia (1-1) v. #7 Thomas (1-1), game canceled due to inclement weather
7 pm | #3 Point (0-2) v. #2 William Carey (2-0)
Saturday, May 4
1 pm | Championship: #8 Blue Mountain v. #2 William Carey
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