Baseball plays in SSAC Championships
Sophomore outfielder Dylan Renard stand holding the ball in his baseball glove at Segnette Field, Westwego last December. The baseball team played at the SSAC Championship last Wednesday. Courtesy of Andrew Wellmann
May 8, 2022
The Loyola Wolf Pack baseball team has completed another season under third-year Head Coach Jeremy Kennedy finishing with a 31-20 record and a 16-8 record in conference play. The Wolf Pack found success last season as they set a school record for wins and were Southern State Athletic Conference regular-season champions. Their loss against William Carey on Saturday, May 7 during the semifinals marked the end to Loyola’s run at the SSAC Championships.
The team started the season ranked as the twelfth best team in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and hoped to carry over their success from last season into this one. The team got off to a slow start with a record of 13-12 through their first 25 games. The Wolf Pack turned it around in the second half of the season going 18-8 including an eight-game winning streak.
Kennedy had a couple of reasons for the mid-season turnaround.
“Everything starts with pitching. We have finally solidified our weekend rotation which has, in turn, solidified roles in the bullpen,” he said. “The staff, in general, has settled in and been better at commanding the zone with a great competitive spirit. Our offense has heated up at the same time.”
In addition, Kennedy said the group has matured overall to help its success.
“We’ve had a lot of new guys in key spots, and we’ve had a lot of growth that has had to take place over the course of the year,” Kennedy said.
The team looked to continue their late-season success into the postseason with the baseball SSAC Championship with its first game being against Blue Mountain College May 4. The team will find out this Thursday, March 14 if it earned a spot at the NAIA National Championship Opening Round. Despite their early-season struggles, Payton Alexander believes the Wolf Pack can make a run this year.
“Addressing our weaknesses and turning them into strengths has made us a team that we believe can make a run at a World Series title,” Alexander said. “After all, that is the goal for us as a program –win a national championship.”
