Baseball sweeps Saturday’s doubleheader to win series

WESTWEGO – The offense was on full display for the Loyola Wolf Pack baseball team on Saturday, earning two wins over Freed-Hardeman to win the four-game series. Loyola won the first game 12-11 before a 13-8 victory completed the doubleheader sweep to take 3-of-4 games over the Lions on the weekend. 
 

The Pack (6-2) will open Southern States Athletic Conference play next weekend, hosting Tennessee Southern on Friday and Saturday. 
 

Game 1: #21 Loyola 12, FHU 11

The Wolf Pack scratched across the first couple of runs of the game in the opening frame. Brandon Mooney and Jaxon Buratt led off the game with back-to-back singles up the middle, then Cole Romero went back up the middle to give Loyola a 1-0 lead. With the bases loaded later in the inning, Marcus Steen brought home Buratt with a sacrifice fly to left field, 2-0. 
 

FHU scored one run in the top of the second, but the Wolf Pack did heavy damage after that with nine straight runs. 
 

That started with five runs in the second inning. Mills scored the first run after reaching on a one-out single, eventually scoring on a wild pitch. Mooney scored the inning's second run off a squeeze bunt play by Buratt, 4-1, then Marcus Steen delivered the heavy blow with a bases-clearing three-RBI double, 7-1. Collin Zeringue and Steen both had two-run home runs in the third to extend the advantage to 11-1. Zeringue's was a 380-foot homer with a 98 MPH exit velocity, while Steen's was 393 feet and 101 MPH off the bat. 
 

The Lions outscored the Pack 10-1 in the final three innings, but Loyola's big early lead was too much to overcome for Freed-Hardeman. 
 

Jake Cohen picked up his second win of the season in as many starts, pitching five innings with four strikeouts and three earned runs allowed. 
 

Game 2: #21 Loyola 13, FHU 8

After Loyola spotted FHU four runs in the top of the first, the Pack answered with three runs in the first, one in the second, and three more in the third to take a 7-4 lead. Steen kept his hot hitting going in the second game of the doubleheader, delivering another three-RBI double in the first inning to cut the score to 4-3. Buratt tied the game in the second with an RBI double as well. In the third, Myles Liggans had a two-RBI single and Landon Trosclair collected an RBI on a single during consecutive at-bats to push the score to a three-run lead. 
 

The Lions scored two runs in the fourth to cut the deficit to one, 7-6, but Loyola put six runs on the board in the fifth inning to take a 13-6 advantage. A bases-loaded walk with Buratt at the plate scored the first run of the inning, then a hard-hit ball by Romero found its way into the outfield for a two-RBI double, 10-6. The big blow in the inning came off the bat of Felix, who hit the ball off the left-field wall and turned that into a three-RBI inside-the-park home run, 13-6. 
 

FHU scored lone runs in the sixth and seventh to bring the game to its final, 13-8. 
 

Brady Bowen got the start for Loyola and earned the win after a five-inning performance. After allowing the four runs on four hits in the first inning, Bowen only gave up one more hit the rest of his outing with four strikeouts. Caden Durand got the save after getting the final two outs in the seventh, entering the game with the tying run on the on-deck circle. 
 

Pack Facts

• The Wolf Pack combined for 49 runs and 40 hits in the four-game series with Freed-Hardeman. 

• In just three games during the series, Marcus Steen went 5-for-8 with four doubles and a home run with a total of 13 RBI. 

• With five total runs scored between today's two games, Brandon Mooney crossed 150 runs at Loyola and is now fourth in career runs scored in the Wolf Pack record book.

• Last year's home runs leader for the Pack, Collin Zeringue hit his first homer of the season in Saturday's first game. He went 1-for-1 in that game with two walks and a hit-by pitch, three total runs scored. 

• Garrett Felix has a team-best six-game hitting streak, which included an inside-the-park home run in Game 2 Saturday, the first of the Jeremy Kennedy era. Felix also had a double in a 2-for-2, 3-run, 3-RBI performance in Game 2.

• Through the first eight games, Mooney leads the team with a .480 batting average and 12 total hits, while Felix is right behind at 9 hits and .409. 

• Cole Romero, who's had a hit in all but one game this season, recorded multiple hits in all three wins this weekend for the Pack. Romero has 11 total hits and nine RBI this season, both of which rank second on the team.