No. 14 Wolf Pack claims another SSAC series

BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – The 14th-ranked Loyola University New Orleans baseball team defeated Blue Mountain Christian twice on Thursday to win another Southern States Athletic Conference series. The Wolf Pack dominated Game 1 from the start en route to a 15-4 win, then they fought off two different five-run deficits in Game 2 to take the series with a 19-10 victory.
 

Riding a six-game winning streak, the Pack is now 28-10 overall and 12-5 in SSAC play to remain in first place in the SSAC standings. 
 

Loyola and BMCU will play the final game of the series at 1 p.m. on Friday. 
 

Game 1: #14 Loyola 15, Blue Mountain Christian 4 (7)

The Wolf Pack hung crooked numbers on the board in the first three innings to jump out to an 11-4 lead. A single through the right side for Jovan Swasey scored Nathan McDonald and Jaxon Buratt for Loyola's first two runs of the game, and a wild pitch later scored Swasey, 3-0. Reed Duthu made it a 4-0 lead in the opening frame thanks to a sacrifice fly that scored JJ Garcia. McDonald and Garcia each picked up an RBI in the second inning, and Buratt scored on an error to help build a 7-1 advantage after one and a half innings. In the third, Cambre and Buratt got runs home on a sacrifice fly and a single, then McDonald notched a two-run home run during the next at-bat to bring the lead to 11-4. 
 

McDonald added a two-RBI single in the fifth inning, which was followed by an RBI double for Garcia, and that pushed Loyola's advantage to 14-4. Reed Duthu scored on a passed ball in the sixth to bring the game to its final score, 15-4. 
 

Brady Bowen got his fifth win of the season by going five innings with five strikeouts. The four runs he allowed were earned, and those runs were off seven hits. Caden Durand had a strong outing, as he finished the last two innings with a couple of strikeouts. He only allowed one hit as well. 
 

Game 2: #14 Loyola 19, Blue Mountain Christian 10

Loyola quickly fell behind 5-0 after two innings and then 7-2 after three innings, but the Pack scored in the final seven innings, including a seven-run eighth, to run away with the win. They scored two runs each in the third and fourth innings, one in the fifth, three more in the sixth, and two in the seventh before the explosive eighth inning. Then Loyola added two more in the ninth for good measure. 
 

Ten different players recorded a hit, and nine crossed the plate in the blowout victory. 
 

Trailing 5-0, Jed Cambre got Loyola on the board in the third inning with a two-run home run. Kash Koontz and Swasey scored Loyola's third and fourth runs in the fourth inning when Duthu and John Lewis each reached on a fielder's choice, 7-4, during consecutive at-bats. After Drew Lee singled home another run in the fifth, 7-5, the Wolf Pack finally took the lead in the sixth. Lewis homered with one out, 7-6, then a two-RBI triple by Buratt later in the frame put the Pack on top, 8-7. 
 

Lewis collected another RBI in the seventh with a double, 9-8, and Myles Liggans had a bunt single that scored Duthu one at-bat later, 10-8. All seven of Loyola's runs in the eighth came with two outs, and it started when Lewis singled with two in scoring position, 12-8. Garcia picked up an RBI single two batters later, 13-8, then Cambre tripled home two more, 15-8. After Buratt and Lee singled back-to-back, 16-8, an error by the BMCU infield made the score 17-8. Garcia and Buratt recorded the RBI in the ninth inning to really put the game out of reach, 19-8. 
 

Thomas Hakimian earned the win with six relief innings, as he allowed four runs - two earned - on seven hits. Grant Goodbee also pitched a scoreless eighth inning in just seven pitches. 
 

Pack Facts

• In his eighth start of the year, Brady Bowen improved to a 5-1 on the mound this season. For his career, he has 16 wins and his career strikeout total of 237 is just three away from the second-most in Loyola history. 

• While he did not get the start, Thomas Hakimian came in to pitch the second inning and went six innings in relief, limiting the Toppers to four runs (two earned) to get the win, his fourth of the season. 

• Hakimian and Bowen now each have 16 career wins for the Wolf Pack, which is the eighth-most in program history. 

• Nathan McDonald started the day with a monster Game 1, going 4-for-4 with four runs scored, two stolen bases, and five RBI. One of his hits was a two-run home run, his eighth of the year. 

• Jaxon Buratt also scored four runs in the first game, going 3-for-3 at the plate with a walk and two RBI. He later added two hits and four RBI in the second game. 

• John Lewis put together his best hitting performance of the season in Game 2, going 4-for-6 with five RBI while also scoring three runs. One of Lewis' hits was a home run, his third of the season. He also had a double. 

• After being unable to reach base in Game 1, Jed Cambre bounced back in a big way in Game 2, hitting a triple and a home run, walking three times, scoring four runs, and driving in four runs. 

• Loyola's 19 runs in Game 2 were the most in any game for the Pack this season. It's also the team's most runs in a conference game since 2022. 

• The team's 18 hits in Game 2 were the second most in a game this year, only behind the Pack's 19 hits against Reinhardt in the season-opening series. 

• In addition to Cambre, Buratt, and Lewis, Loyola also got multi-hit games from Reed Duthu, Drew Lee, and JJ Garcia in Game 2. Lee and Garcia also recorded two hits apiece in Game 1, with two of those hits being doubles.