No. 7 Baseball earns two wins over #14 Reinhardt on opening day

WESTWEGO – The Loyola University New Orleans baseball team moved up its opening day doubleheader with Reinhardt University (Ga.) to Thursday, and the seventh-ranked Wolf Pack earned two wins, 14-1 and 14-10, over the 14th-ranked Eagles at Segnette Field. 
 

Loyola and RU will meet back up at Segnette Field at 11 a.m. on Friday with another doubleheader. 
 

Game 1: #7 Loyola 14, #14 Reinhardt 1 (7)

The Wolf Pack answered a first-inning run from Reinhardt with one in the bottom half of the opening frame. JJ Garcia made his collegiate debut with a double down the left-field during his first at-bat. He moved to third on a failed pickoff attempt and scored on a wild pitch to nod the game, 1-1. 
 

Loyola took the lead in the next inning with four more runs. Jed Cambre and Reed Duthu were hit by a pitch and walked with one out, and after Cambre stole third, Jaxon Buratt laid down a perfect bunt down the third-base line to score the run, 2-1, and reach safely. Garcia walked to load the bases after that, and a Myles Liggans sacrifice fly to center made it a 3-1 lead. Finally, Nathan McDonald doubled over the right fielder's head to plate two more runs, 5-1. 
 

The Wolf Pack pushed another run across in the fourth inning, 6-1, after Liggans led off the inning with an infield single and eventually came home on a bases-loaded walk by Cambre. The game was essentially put away with a four-spot in the fifth inning, 10-1, which was highlighted by a two-run home run by Jordan McKenzie. McDonald and Garcia also scored before that homer on a passed ball and an error by the catcher on the same play. Jovan Swasey and Cambre each picked up two-RBI base knocks in the sixth inning for good measure as well, 14-1. 
 

Brady Bowen earned the win with a five-inning start. After allowing a run on three hits in the first inning, he settled down and only gave up three more hits in the next four innings with three strikeouts. Cole Bordes worked the final two innings with a couple of strikeouts to finish off the game. 
 

Game 2: #7 Loyola 14, #14 Reinhardt 10

McDonald got the Pack on the board quickly with a two-run blasts to left field in the first inning. Garcia led off the frame with a single to setup the homer. Loyola loaded the bases in the second inning, and McKenzie delivered a two-RBI double that snuck down the left-field line, then a groundout off the bat of Cambre made the lead 5-0. The Eagles, however, scored five runs in the top of the third to quickly tie the game. 
 

The Eagles added a lone run in the fourth and four more in the fifth to push ahead 10-5, but the Wolf Pack responded with six runs in the bottom half of the fifth to regain the lead, 11-10. Duthu picked up the first RBI, then two batters later McDonald picked up another to cut the deficit to three. Swasey scored another during the next at-bat, and McKenzie delivered the big blow with his third double of the game to plate two more and tie the game at 10-all. Cambre put the Pack back on top with a single to center one batter later. 
 

Swasey collected his second RBI on his third hit of the game in the sixth inning to extend the Wolf Pack's lead by one, 12-10. An infield error led to two more runs for the Wolf Pack, 14-10, in the eighth to provide some cushion. 
 

Grant Goodbee entered to pitch in the fifth and received the win in 1.2 innings of relief. He gave up just one hit with a strikeout. Frank Fernandez continued to hold the Eagles scoreless on the board, pitching the next two innings while giving up two hits and striking out three. He had two big strikeouts with two runners on base in the eighth to preserve the two-run lead. Jake Cohen pitched the ninth around some trouble, but still kept Reinhardt off the board to complete the win. 

Pack Facts

• Loyola's 14 runs in the first game Thursday were the team's most in a season opener since February 3, 2017, when the Pack won 18-0 against Rust College. 

• The Pack's 19 hits in Game 2 on Thursday is their best hitting performance since February 15 of last season. 

• JJ Garcia scored six runs between the two games in his Wolf Pack debut. He also had four hits, including one double.

• Nearly one year after his season-opening home run in 2025, Jordan McKenzie hit his second homer at Loyola in the fifth inning of Game 1 Thursday. He followed that up with three doubles in Game 2, and has totaled five extra-base hits in three games in Westwego. 

• Six different players (McKenzie, Garcia, Jaxon Buratt, Jovan Swasey, Ayden Authement, Reed Duthu) recorded three hits in either Game 1 or Game 2.