Baseball claims win No. 30 Tuesday

WESTWEGO – The 12th-ranked Loyola University New Orleans baseball team took a break from conference play on Tuesday by hosting the U.S. Sports Academy at Segnette Field. It was all Wolf Pack from the start, en route to a 14-2 run-rule win over the Eagles. 
 

Loyola, now 30-9 overall, will take its 16-5 Southern States Athletic Conference record to Middle Georgia State this weekend. The Pack and Knights (19-21, 9-12) begin their three-game SSAC series at 2 p.m. CDT on Friday with a doubleheader. 
 

The Wolf Pack scored eight runs through the first three innings to jump out to the 8-0 lead. Brandon Mooney walked to start the bottom half of the first, and he later came home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Landon Manson. Mooney's run was career run No. 191, which tied the program's all-time record. 
 

Mooney quickly broke the record in the second inning, sending a pitch over the right-field wall with Jaxon Buratt on second to make it a 4-0 lead. Buratt picked up an RBI before Mooney's at-bat, scoring Landon Trosclair from second, and Manson added a two-RBI single later in the inning to put the Pack up 6-0. In the third inning, a double steal was executed well by Ayden Authement and Trosclair to push the lead to 7-0, then Mooney had a sacrifice fly to add another run, 8-0. 
 

The Wolf Pack was held scoreless in the fourth, but a six-run fifth inning extended the advantage to 14-0. They collected four hits, three hit by pitches, and a walk in the frame to score the runs, and it started with a single by Mooney to bring home Authement, 9-0. Cole Romero doubled off the right-field wall to score Buratt and Mooney, 11-0. Manson was plunked with the bases loaded, 12-0, and Authement finished off the scoring with a two-RBI single to left, 14-0. 
 

While the Wolf Pack bats were getting it done at the plate, Charlie Nichols was having a career day on the mound. He pitched five shutout innings with 11 strikeouts and no walks allowed. After allowing the first batter of the game to reach base, he sat down the next 11 batters he faced with eight strikeouts. Andrew Riedell also pitched a clean seventh inning to close out the game. 
 

Pack Facts

• Brandon Mooney scored three runs on Tuesday and is now No. 1 in runs scored in the Wolf Pack record book, passing former record-holder Allen Dennis with 193 runs in his three seasons at Loyola. 

• Mooney went 2-for-2 at the plate with four RBI, breaking the runs record with a two-run home run over the left field wall. 

• The record holder in single-season runs as well, Mooney now has 57 runs so far in 2025, which is the seventh-most in a season in program history.

• Charlie Nichols turned in a stellar performance on the mound, completing five scoreless innings while striking out a career-high 11 batters and allowing just two hits. 

• Nichols' 11 strikeouts were the most for any Wolf Pack player since Stephen Still had 13 at the NAIA National Championship Opening Round last year. 

• In his best hitting game at Loyola, Ayden Authement doubled to start the third inning and added two more singles in the fifth to put up a stat line of three hits, two runs, two RBI, and three stolen bases. 

• Landon Trosclair also stole three bases, totaling two hits and two runs on the night. He leads the team with 23 stolen bases this season and sits just outside the top 10 in program history in that category for a single season. 

• Garrett Felix extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a pair of singles. It was also his fourth multi-hit game in the last five contests. 

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