No. 9 Loyola, UT Southern open series with doubleheader

PULASKI, Tenn. – The ninth-ranked Loyola Wolf Pack baseball team hit the road for their second straight Southern States Athletic Conference series away from home, playing two games against Tennessee Southern on Friday. Loyola won the first game 6-1 before its rally came up short in Game 2, 9-8. 
 

The two teams will be back up at 12 p.m. on Saturday for the series-deciding game. 
 

Game 1: #9 Loyola 6, UT Southern 1

The Wolf Pack used a couple of home runs to take a 4-0 lead through the first two innings. After Jed Cambre led off the game by reaching on UT Southern's first of three errors in the game, Nathan McDonald walked with one out to set up a Jordan McKenzie three-run home run in the first inning. Jaxon Buratt notched a lead-off solo home run in the second inning to put the Pack up four. 
 

That was all Loyola starter Brady Bowen needed, as he threw the seven-inning complete game with five strikeouts while giving up one earned run on one hit. He retired the first eight batters he faced before giving up a solo home run in the third inning, 4-1. He followed that up by sitting down the next 11 batters he faced, as he hit a batter in the bottom of the seventh for UT Southern's second player to reach base. Bowen ended up getting a double play to end the game, meaning he faced just one batter over the minimum throughout his outing. 
 

Loyola scored its final two runs of the game in the fourth inning. Buratt and Cambre started things with walks, then McKenzie walked two batters later to load the bases with two outs. Reed Duthu picked up the two-RBI base hit after that, 6-1. 
 

Game 2: UT Southern 9, #9 Loyola 8

A late rally came up short for Loyola in the second game of the doubleheader. The Pack trailed 8-2 heading to the eighth inning, but they scored five runs in the top half, 8-7, and one in the ninth after UT Southern answered with one in the bottom of the eighth, 9-8, to bring the game to its final. 
 

Cambre scored the game's first run in the first inning, moving around the bases thanks to a single up the middle, a stolen base, an error, and a passed ball, 1-0. Cambre, again, helped the Loyola offense in the third, breaking a 1-1 tie with a single to left field to plate Tanner Powell, 2-1. 
 

The Pack was held off the board until the eighth inning, while the hosts scored three times in the fourth, 4-2, and two runs each in the sixth and seventh, 8-2. 
 

A single by McKenzie brought home Loyola's first run in the eighth, 8-3, then Buratt was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded two batters later, 8-4. Drew Lee's single to right pushed two more across, 8-6, and Powell got a sacrifice fly to make the deficit one, 8-7. After a sacrifice fly by Nathan McDonald in the ninth, 9-8, the Wolf Pack left the tying run at second base to end the game. 
 

Pack Facts

• Brady Bowen threw all seven innings in Loyola's Game 1 win, only allowing one hit in the entire contest while striking out five. 

• Bowen now has 14 pitching wins in his Wolf Pack career, which ties him with Thomas Hakimian for the 10th spot on Loyola's career wins list. 

• Jed Cambre had his best hitting performance as a member of the Wolf Pack in Game 2, going 4-for-5 at the plate with three runs scored. One of his hits was a double, and he's now tied for the team lead with seven doubles this season. 

• Cambre also stole a base in game 2, his team-leading 19th stolen base of the season. 

• After his home run in Game 1, Jaxon Buratt now has four home runs at Loyola. 

• Jordan McKenzie's first-inning home run to start the day was his third of the season. He now leads the Pack with 25 RBI this season.