Maleigh Crespo

The Loyola Baseball team is gearing up for the end of the season and preparing to make another deep run in the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament after being eliminated in the semifinals last season.
“We got too comfortable after our good start last year, which led to us struggling at the end of the season and missing the regionals,” senior outfielder Tucker Ganley said.
Ganley stressed that because of that, the teams’ level of focus has improved as the season has progressed.
“The older guys this year remember that feeling of being left out of the national tournament,” he said. “That has kept our focus levels sharp to make sure we finish the regular season playing our best ball.”
The Wolf Pack holds a 33-11 record and currently sits in a tie for second place in the conference standings, three games behind the leader.
Part of the team’s success can be credited to their hot start to the season, where they won 13 of their first 15 games.
“We were so excited to get the season rolling and play someone other than ourselves,” Ganley said. “We had very competitive fall scrimmages and practices with a lot of guys battling for positions. All of that made us excited to play someone else so we could finally compete together.”
Senior outfielder Kason Cullins credits the team’s ability to never get down on themselves as a reason for their great play this year.
“This team has been able to overcome adversity and improve after every game,” Cullins said. “You can’t ever count us out. We’ve been down 12-0 in the first inning of a game and came back and won 22-12. It does not matter what the score is, we will fight until the end.”
And as the regular season winds down, the Wolf Pack is looking to carry the lessons they’ve learned into the postseason. Close wins throughout the season against teams like Texas A&M-Texarkana, conference foes Brewton-Parker, and an upset victory over No. 3 Georgia Gwinnett have been key moments that have shaped this year’s team.
“All of those wins had us staring at a loss in our face and we had to overcome adversity to win,” Ganley said. “Those are the types of games that will prepare us for the postseason.”
The team’s goals remain the same, however, especially for the team’s seniors.
“As my time here closes out, I am honestly just looking to have fun out there,” Cullins said. “It would be nice to see this team go on and win a conference tournament and a regional championship for sure and have all the work we put in this season pay off in the postseason.”