Baseball loses series opener Thursday

WESTWEGO – The Loyola Wolf Pack and Abraham Baldwin Stallions opened their three-game Southern States Athletic Conference series with an extra-inning affair on Thursday, as the ABAC took the 4-3 series-opening win. The series will conclude with a doubleheader at Segnette Field on Friday starting at 12 p.m.
 

Both teams scratched runs across in the first inning, and the 2-1 Loyola lead held until the sixth, as both starting pitchers settled into the game nicely. After ABAC got a solo home run in the top of the first, Cole Romero singled home Garrett Felix in the bottom half to tie the game, 1-1. With Romero at third and Marcus Steen on first a couple of batters later, the two base runners orchestrated a double steal play that brought home the second run. 
 

After that, the Abraham Baldwin starter allowed lone hits in the second and third innings, but ultimately held the Wolf Pack off the board for the next five innings before exiting the game with a 2-2 tie. The Stallions got the tying run in the sixth off Loyola starter Jake Cohen. The New Orleans native worked six innings with seven strikeouts while allowing two earned runs off seven hits. 
 

Loyola got a go-ahead run in the eighth when Drew Lee singled to score Jaxon Buratt, 3-2, but the Stallions evened the game again with a run in the top of the ninth. In the 10th, after Loyola pitcher Caden Durand got two quick outs, ABAC reached base on two errors by the Wolf Pack defense to make it a 4-3 lead for the visitors. Loyola would go down in order in the bottom half of the frame to end the game. 
 

Pack Facts

• Jake Cohen struck out seven while allowing just two runs. 

• Garrett Felix hit his fifth double of the season as part of a 2-for-5 day at the plate. 

• Cole Romero drove in Felix with an RBI single in the first inning, marking his 16th consecutive game with at least one hit.