No. 7 Baseball loses series finale Sunday

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The seventh-ranked Loyola University New Orleans baseball team wrapped up a four-game series at (RV) St. Thomas University (Fla.) on Sunday, dropping the series finale, 17-7. 
 

After playing its last seven games on the road, Loyola (12-5) returns to Segnette Field on Friday for an SSAC opening series against Thomas University (Ga.). Friday will be a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m., and the final game of the series will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday. 
 

The Wolf Pack got into an early hole, trailing 7-1 after three innings. St. Thomas got one run in the bottom of the first before Loyola tied it in the top of the second. However, the Bobcats scored another run in the bottom half, then put up a five-spot in the third. Drew Lee led off the second inning with a double, and his courtesy runner, Kash Koontz, came home two batters later. 
 

Loyola's bats came alive in the fourth and fifth innings, combining to score five runs between the two at-bats. St. Thomas kept scoring, too, though, answering the Pack in the fourth, 10-3, and in the fifth, 11-6. Jordan McKenzie smacked a two-run home run in the fourth, and Jaxon Buratt had a three-RBI triple in the fifth to plate Loyola's runs. 
 

After St. Thomas made it a 16-6 lead in the sixth inning, McKenzie picked up another RBI, 16-7, to push the game to the bottom of the seventh. St. Thomas would score another run to end the game early. 
 

Pack Facts

• Jordan McKenzie went 2-for-3 in the game with a single and a two-run homer. It was his second home run of the season. 

• After doubling on Sunday, Drew Lee recorded a hit in all four games of the series. 

• Jaxon Buratt's 3-RBI triple in the fifth inning was his fourth triple at Loyola.