Baseball finishes season No. 25 in NAIA

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Loyola Wolf Pack baseball team ended the 2026 season as the No. 25-ranked team in the NAIA, the league announced Wednesday in its NAIA Baseball Top 25 Postseason Poll. Loyola finished the season with a 37-19 overall record with its second straight SSAC Championship title, eventually losing in the Shreveport Opening Round to end its campaign. 
 

It's the fifth time in the last six seasons the Pack has been in the postseason Top 25 rankings. 
 

Loyola started the season by winning 12 of its first 14 games of the season, then moved its overall record to 29-10 with a 13-5 mark in Southern States Athletic Conference play by early April. The Pack scuffled down the stretch, finishing the regular season 32-17 and 15-12 in league action to earn a No. 6 seed in the SSAC tournament. The team found a spark in Jackson, Tennessee, though, winning all three pool-play games, including a victory over now-ranked No. 3 William Carey, before defeating now-ranked No. 21 Abraham Baldwin in the title game to claim the program's second straight tournament championship. Loyola then traveled to Shreveport, Louisiana, for the NAIA Opening Round, going 1-2 in the tournament to end its season. 
 

William Carey, ABAC, and Loyola are the only teams from the SSAC to appear in the rankings, but Faulkner did receive votes just outside the Top 25. 
 

Jaxon Buratt led the team with a .367 batting average, 65 hits, 11 doubles and four triples while also totaling 46 runs and 50 RBI. Nathan McDonald hit a team-high 12 home runs and also led the team with 51 RBI; he was second on the team in hits (64), doubles (10) and runs scored (51). Ayden Authement (.354), JJ Garcia (.333) and Drew Lee (.303) made it five Wolf Pack batters to hit over .300 this season. 
 

On the mound, starters Brady Bowen and Michael Hotard each threw over 70 innings while posting an ERA under 4.50. Bowen led the team with 55 strikeouts and a 7-4 win-loss record, with his seven wins tying for the ninth-most in a season in program history. Hotard finished 6-3 with 52 strikeouts. Loyola also boasted some of the best relievers in the NAIA, as Jake Cohen's 13 saves ranked second in the country. Cohen's 2.16 ERA was second on the team only to Frank Fernandez, who posted a new program record with an ERA of 0.92. 
 

Cohen, Buratt, and McDonald all earned All-SSAC First Team honors, Fernandez and Garcia were placed on the Second Team, and Lee (C), Buratt (3B), and Garcia (LF) were given SSAC Gold Glove awards. Buratt was also selected as the SSAC Championship MVP, and he was joined on the all-tournament team with Hunter Ponson, Fernandez, and Cohen.