No. 14 Loyola earns second straight SSAC sweep

BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – The No. 14-ranked Loyola Wolf Pack baseball team went on the road again this week, and again they earned a three-game Southern States Athletic Conference sweep. After taking both games on Thursday, a 6-3 decision on Friday improved Loyola's record to 29-10 overall and 13-5 in SSAC play. 
 

The Pack remains in first place in the conference standings, and pending results from other SSAC matchups around the league, they could either be tied with Abraham Baldwin or have sole possession by the end of the weekend. 
 

Loyola struck first in the opening frame. After Jed Cambre led off the game with a single, Nathan McDonald sent one over the left-field wall to put the Pack ahead by two quickly. Cambre singled again in the second inning, but this time he scored Reed Duthu, 3-0, who started the inning with a walk. 
 

Thanks to a leadoff double, BMCU scored its first run in the bottom of the second, 3-1. The hosts added another in the third and one in the fourth to tie the ballgame, 3-3. 
 

Neither team scored in the fifth through seventh innings, but the Wolf Pack broken the stalemate with a three-run eighth. With John Lewis and Kash Koontz, who was courtesy running for Drew Lee, on base and two outs, Cambre, again, came through with a two-RBI triple to put the Pack in the lead, 5-3. One at-bat later, Jaxon Buratt reached on an error by the BMCU infield to plate Cambre, 6-3. 
 

Micheal Hotard got the start and pitched the first five innings, giving up those three earned runs. However, he blanked the Toppers in the fifth before handing the ball to Cole Bordes, who needed just 14 pitches to keep the hosts off the board in the sixth. Frank Fernandez got the win by pitching the seventh inning, then Jake Cohen earned the two-inning save to add to his program-record total. 
 

Pack Facts

• To close the game and sweep the series, Frank Fernandez collected his fourth win of the year, while Jake Cohen extended his single-season record with his ninth save of the year. 

• Nathan McDonald's two-run homer in the first inning, his second of the series, was his team-best ninth of the year. McDonald went 8-for-11 over the weekend with five runs scored and seven RBI. 

• At the top of the lineup, Jed Cambre reached four times, going 3-for-4 at the plate with a walk, two runs scored, and three RBI. Cambre hit a triple in each of the last two games of the series, with his 2-RBI triple to right-center in the eighth inning Friday providing the winning runs for the Pack. 

• Getting his second start of the year at DH, Hunter Ponson hit a pair of singles to finish 2-for-3 on the day, his first multi-hit game for the Wolf Pack. 

• Loyola's current seven-game winning streak is the team's longest this season.