No. 21 Baseball wins two at Thomas Friday

THOMASVILLE, Ga. – The 21st-ranked Loyola Wolf Pack traveled to Thomasville, Georgia, this weekend for their second Southern States Athletic Conference of the season, sweeping a doubleheader on Friday against Thomas University. The Pack (11-3, 4-1 in SSAC) started the day with 7-4 win before dominating the nightcap, 9-3 
 

The two teams will meet back up at 12 p.m. CST on Saturday for the series finale. 
 

Game 1: #21 Loyola 7, Thomas 4

The Wolf Pack used six early runs and strong relief pitching to secure the series opener. Loyola got homers from Cole Romero and Collin Zeringue at the plate, and Caden Durand and Cole Bordes combined to pitch four strong innings to maintain the lead in the final frames. 
 

Romero got the Wolf Pack on the board in the first inning with a solo blast, 1-0, and Zeringue made it a 6-3 lead in the third with a two-run shot. The Pack got three runs in the top of the second to answer Thomas tying the game, 1-1, in the bottom of the first, as Marcus Steen had an RBI triple, Jaxon Buratt scored another via a groundout, and finally, a Brandon Mooney double plated two more, 4-1. 
 

The Night Hawks made it a 4-3 ballgame before Zeringue's homer made it a three-score lead again. 
 

From there, the Wolf Pack bullpen was the star of the show. Durand entered to pitch in the bottom of the fourth and he got three straight outs to strand two Thomas base runners in scoring position. He allowed a leadoff single and a two-out walk in the fifth, but pitched out of the jam to hold the 6-4 lead and earn the win. After Loyola went up 7-4, Bordes allowed a couple of walks in his two innings, but nothing more to receive the save. 
 

A sacrifice fly off the bat of Buratt scored Loyola's seventh run in the sixth. 
 

Game 2: #21 Loyola 9, Thomas 3

Loyola took a 3-0 lead after three innings, using a Zeringue second-inning home run and a rally in the third. Zeringue notched his second home run of the day with a leadoff blast, then Jake Mills and Garrett Felix started the third with a couple of singles. A wild pitch scores Mills, 2-0, and a sacrifice fly by Steen plated Felix, 3-0. 
 

The Night Hawks scored a run in the bottom half, but the Wolf Pack answered with four more in the fifth. Felix delivered an RBI single, 4-1, then Romero brought home two more during the next at-bat, 6-1. A sacrifice fly by Zeringue made it a six-run lead, 7-1. Loyola added two more in the sixth inning to take a commanding 9-1 advantage, as Felix came through again with a two-RBI double. 
 

Prescott Marsh earned the win with a five-inning, six-strikeout performance. He allowed a leadoff double in the first but retired five straight to keep Thomas scoreless through five. He gave up three of the five hits allowed when the Night Hawks scored in the third, however, Marsh bounced back with strong four and fifth innings. Elvin Delic faced the minimum in his two innings of work to highlight the bullpen's performance. 
 

Pack Facts

• Brandon Mooney recorded a pair of hits in each game, adding his team-high eighth double of the year in Game 1. That's six consecutive multi-hit games for Mooney, including every game of conference play so far. He's hitting .543 so far this season. 

• Collin Zeringue also had multiple hits in each game, including a home run in both games Friday. Zeringue now has a team-high four home runs this season and 12 in his Wolf Pack career. 

• Cole Romero's first-inning homer in Game 1 Friday also gives him 12 home runs in a Wolf Pack uniform. 

• Garrett Felix had three hits and three RBI in Game 2, while Jake Mills scored three runs, his highest total in any game this season. 

• Prescott Marsh was solid on the mound in Game 2, allowing just one run over five innings with six strikeouts. Marsh has thrown at least four strikeouts in all four of his pitching appearances this season for a team-high 21, and he's one of five pitchers on the team to have two wins this season. 

• Caden Durand got the win in relief in Game 1 for his second win of the season. Behind him, Cole Bordes picked up the save, also his second save of the season. The two combined to shut out the Night Hawks in their four innings. 

Subscribe to Pack Tracks, a Loyola Athletics Newsletter, for all of the latest information >> https://loyolawolfpack.com/subscribe.aspx. You can also keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.