Wolf Pack dominates Game 2, splits Friday’s doubleheader

WESTWEGO – The Loyola University New Orleans baseball team welcomed Freed-Hardeman to Segnette Field on Friday, playing the first of two doubleheaders this weekend. The Lions got the better of Loyola to start the day, 12-5, but the Wolf Pack bounced back with a dominant 19-5 win in the nightcap. The two teams will be back at Segnette for two more games starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday. 
 

Game 1: FHU 12, #21 Loyola 5

The Lions put crooked numbers on the board to take an early lead in the first inning and extend their advantage in the fourth and fifth. The visitors jumped up 3-0 after the opening frame, then after Loyola got on the board, FHU made it a 7-1 lead in the fourth and 12-3 in the fifth. 
 

Drew Lee picked up an RBI in the second inning to cut the deficit to 3-1, then after the Lions made it a six-run lead, Jake Mills and Garrett Felix brought runs home to cut it to 7-3. FHU, again, put up a big number in the fifth, but the Pack scratched across a couple of runs in the bottom half thanks to RBI from Jaxon Buratt and Mills to keep things interesting, 12-5. 
 

The Wolf Pack had base runners throughout the game, stranding 11 total. They even loaded the bases in four different innings, but could only push across five total runs in the game. 
 

Game 2: #21 Loyola 19, FHU 5

The Wolf Pack bounced back in a big way, scoring runs in the first five innings, including multiple runs in four of those frames. The Wolf Pack held a 19-5 advantage after five when the dust settled. The two through six hitters (Buratt, Collin Zeringue, Cole Romero, Felix and Marcus Steen) in the lineup all had at least two hits, too, and eight-hole hitter, Mills, had a team-high three RBI. 
 

The scoring spree started with two runs in the first inning. Buratt tripled off the left-center field wall, and he scored on a passed ball. Romero made it a 2-0 lead with a solo home run to left field that traveled 390 feet with a 110-mile-per-hour exit velocity. After FHU pushed its first run across in the top of the second, Mills picked up his first RBI on a sacrifice fly in the bottom half to maintain the two-run lead, 3-1. 
 

The Lions would take the lead in the third with a four-spot, 5-3, but Grant Goodbee ended their rally in the inning and Payton Cooper pitched three straight shutout innings to allow Loyola's bats to come alive. Goodbee would pick up his second relief win of the young season with an effective .1 inning of work, then Cooper struck out three while allowing just one hit in his three innings. 
 

Loyola lit it up the rest of the way, scoring three runs in the third, four runs in the fourth and nine in the fifth to really put the game away. Steen collected a two-RBI double in the third, Buratt had a two-RBI homer in the fourth, and Mills and Zeringue each had two-RBI singles in the fifth to highlight the scoring. 
 

Pack Facts

• Jaxon Buratt had his best game of the season in Game 2, going 2-for-3 at the plate with a triple and a home run, three runs scored, and three RBI. It was his first home run of the season and second of his collegiate career. 

• Collin Zeringue also scored three runs, knocking in three singles and three RBI. 

• Cole Romero hit his first home run of the season, and ninth of his Wolf Pack career, while going 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored. 

• Garrett Felix reached base all four times he stepped up to the plate, going 2-for-2 with three runs, two RBI, and two walks. 

• Marcus Steen smacked two doubles in a 2-for-4 effort at the plate, and he drove in three runs. It was his second game with multiple doubles at Loyola.

• The second through sixth batters in order (Buratt, Zeringue, Romero, Felix, Steen) all had multiple hits in Friday's second game. 

• Brandon Mooney didn't have multiple hits in Game 2 but he did score four runs, touching home plate after all four times that he reached base. The Wolf Pack second baseman is now fifth in career runs in Loyola's record book with 146. 

• Mooney also was one of two Loyola players to record multiple hits in Game 1, with Landon Manson going 2-for-2 with two runs scored. 

• Payton Cooper shut out the Lions in three innings in the middle of Friday's Game 2, allowing just one hit with three strikeouts and no runs given up.