No. 17 Baseball pulls away at No. 9 William Carey

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Loyola University New Orleans baseball team struck first in its final weekend series of the regular season, taking Game 1 over the No. 9 William Carey Crusaders, 11-4. The regular season will end for both teams on Friday, when the two meet back up at Milton Wheeler Field for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
 

The 17th-ranked Wolf Pack got on the board first in the first inning. Brandon Mooney singled to lead off the frame, and he moved into scoring position when Garrett Felix sacrificed him over to second with a bunt. Two batters later, Landon Manson singled to bring home the run. 
 

Loyola starter Cole Bordes gave up a couple of singles in the bottom half of the inning, but Wolf Pack catcher Drew Lee threw out a would-be base-stealer to keep the Crusaders off the board. Both teams went down in order in the second inning, as Bordes got a called third strike to cap off his second frame. In the third, the Loyola starter faced two runners in scoring position with one out, but he got a pop-up to Ben Harris at third and another inning-ending strikeout. 
 

Garrett Beadle came up big in the fourth inning to push Loyola's lead to 6-0. After Manson was hit by a pitch, followed by walks for Collin Zeringue and Drew Lee to load the bases, Beadle stepped up to pinch hit in the eighth spot. He worked a full count and sent the next pitch over the left-field wall for a grand slam. Jaxon Buratt kept things going with another walk, and he stole second to quickly get another runner back into scoring position. Mooney picked up the RBI single to push one more run across. Bordes worked a nearly cleaned bottom half to keep the momentum in the Wolf Pack's dugout. 
 

Cole Romero started the next half-inning with a double, and he later scored on a bunt single by Zeringue, 7-0. With the bases loaded a couple of at-bats later, a ground ball in the infield extended the Wolf Pack's advantage to 8-0. 

Bordes pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half, but he was eventually lifted out of the game in the sixth when the Crusaders hit a one-out double. Before that, though, Loyola made it a 10-0 lead with two more runs in the top of the sixth. Mooney scored on a balk, and Romero picked up the RBI single during the same at-bat. 
 

WCU eventually scored twice in the sixth, 10-2, but Prescott Marsh was able to strand a couple of runners to limit the damage. Bordes gave up five hits with one earned run during his 5.1-inning outing to earn the win. Caden Durand pitched the eighth and ninth innings without any drama left in the game. William Carey did get a two-run home run in the ninth, 11-4, but it was too little, too late for the hosts. 
 

Lee added an RBI single in the top of the ninth to add an insurance run. 
 

Pack Facts

• Loyola's win snapped a 9-game losing streak against William Carey. On Friday, the Wolf Pack will have a chance to take a series from Carey for the first time since 2022 at home. 

• The Wolf Pack's conference record is now 19-9 with two games left in the regular season. The team's 19 wins in SSAC play this year are the most conference wins in any season in program history.

• After allowing just one run in his fifth start of the year, Cole Bordes picked up his third win of the season, improving to 3-1. 

• Garrett Beadle's fourth-inning grand slam was his second home run of the season and his third at Loyola. 

• Brandon Mooney, Landon Manson, and Cole Romero all recorded multiple hits Thursday night. 

• Mooney now has scored a total of 200 runs in three years at Loyola, becoming the first Wolf Pack player to reach 200 runs scored. He also moved into the top four in career hits in the program record book with 227 career hits. 

• Manson got to base a team-high four times, reaching on an error, a hit-by-pitch, and two singles. He scored three total runs in Thursday's series opener, a game high. 

• Collin Zeringue also reached four times, with a hit and three walks.