Baseball moves to 1-1 at SSAC Championship

JACKSON, Tenn. – The Loyola Wolf Pack are now 1-1 in pool play at the Southern States Athletic Conference Championship after Thursday's 8-4 loss to Thomas (Ga.).The second-seeded Wolf Pack will finish the round-robin portion of the tournament on Friday at 10 a.m. against No. 3-seed Abraham Baldwin. 
 

Loyola scratched the first run of the game in the top half of the opening frame, but the Night Hawks answered that with four runs in the bottom half. Garrett Felix and Cole Romero hit back-to-back one-out doubles to briefly give Loyola the 1-0 lead, however, Thomas used three hits and an error to plate its four runs later in the inning. 
 

After both teams were held scoreless for the next three innings, Thomas added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, 6-1. Two innings later, the Night Hawks would go up 7-1 while Loyola stranded five base runners in the second through seventh innings. 
 

The Wolf Pack finally got back on the board in the eighth inning. With Romero, Landon Manson and Myles Liggans on base, Drew Lee notched a two-out, two-RBI single to make it a 7-3 ballgame. Thomas got one run back in the bottom half, then Brandon Mooney launched a solo home run in the ninth to bring the game to its final. 
 

Only two of Thomas' eight runs were earned. 
 

Pack Facts

• Garrett Felix reached in his first four plate appearances, going 2-for-3 with two walks and one run scored. Both of his hits were doubles, bringing him to 16 doubles this year. 

• Cole Romero hit a double to score Felix in the first inning, giving him 66 RBI this season. He needs one more RBI to tie Loyola's single-season RBI record of 67, set by Joshua Borges in 2008. 

• After a season-high three hits in yesterday's contest, Myles Liggans had two more singles on Thursday. He also stole a base. 
   

SSAC Championship Schedule

Pool A: #1 William Carey, #4 Middle Georgia, #5 Blue Mountain, #8 UT Southern
Pool B: #2 Loyola, #3 ABAC, #6 Thomas, #7 Mobile
 

Wednesday, April 30
Game 1 | #2 Loyola def. #7 Mobile, 9-4
Game 2 | #3 ABAC def. #6 Thomas, 9-7
Game 3 | #1 William Carey def. #8 UT Southern, 15-5
Game 4 | #4 Middle Georgia def. #5 Blue Mountain, 9-2
 

Thursday, May 1
Game 5 | #6 Thomas def. #2 Loyola, 8-4
Game 6 | #2 ABAC def. #7 Mobile, 24-23
Game 7 | #1 William Carey def. #5 Blue Mountain, 8-4
Game 8 | #8 UT Southern def. #4 Middle Georgia, 7-6

Friday, May 2
Game 9 | 10:00 a.m. | #3 ABAC (2-0) vs. #2 Loyola (1-1)
Game 10 | 1:00 p.m. | #6 Thomas (1-1) vs. #7 Mobile (0-2)
Game 11 | 4:00 p.m. | #4 Middle Georgia (1-1) vs. #1 William Carey (2-0)
Game 12 | 7:00 p.m. | #5 Blue Mountain (0-2) vs. #8 UT Southern (1-1)
 

Saturday, May 3
Championship | 1:00 p.m. | Pool A Champ v. Pool B Champ