Wolf Pack remains 14th in NAIA Top 25

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics released another Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll on Wednesday, and the Loyola Wolf Pack will play the last two weeks of the regular season as the 14th-ranked team in the NAIA. 
 

Loyola is currently 31-12 overall and 14-7 in Southern States Athletic Conference, and its the highest-ranked team in the rankings for the SSAC. William Carey checks in at No. 15 and Abraham Baldwin is ranked No. 22. Those three teams, plus Thomas, makeup a four-way tie atop the SSAC standings. Each team has six league games to go this season. 
 

The Wolf Pack is set to host Point University (Ga.) on Friday and Saturday for their last home SSAC series. There will be a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Friday, and the series finale is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday. 
 

Nathan McDonald (.388), Jaxon Buratt (.381), JJ Garcia (.363), Drew Lee (.305), and Jed Cambre (.302) give the Wolf Pack five in the lineup with a batting average better than .300, with Reed Duthu (.291) and Jordan McKenzie (.291) knocking on the door to join that group. McDonald's 10 home runs lead the team and rank second in the SSAC, and he also has a team-high 54 hits, 41 RBI, and nine doubles. Cambre is second in the SSAC with 26 stolen bases as the team's leadoff man, and he also leads the Pack with 48 runs scored. 
 

Brady Bowen and Michael Hotard have anchored the weekend rotation for most of the season with 3.42 and 4.43 earned run averages, respectively. Bowen is 5-2 in nine starts this season with 55.1 innings total, and Hotard is 5-1 in 44.2 innings in 10 starts. Frank Fernandez leads the bullpen with a 0.74 ERA in 24.1 innings, and Jake Cohen leads the league with 10 saves, as the next closest to him is five. 
 

As a team, Loyola is third in the SSAC with a .311 batting average and fourth with a 5.25 team ERA. The Wolf Pack continues to lead the conference with 149 stolen bases, and their .966 fielding percentage ranks second.