After struggling all year to have a completely successful game, the Loyola baseball team managed to reel off six consecutive Gulf Coast Athletic Conference victories and win seven of nine overall.
“I think it’s tremendous,” head coach Greg Mucerino said. “The guys have pulled together.”
“A lot of people started realizing we need to play at the level we’re capable of or we aren’t going to win,” added pre-engineering sophomore Greg Veltri.
The GCAC streak began against the LSU-Shreveport Pilots on April 12 at Segnette Field.
Management senior Scott Schenck held the Pilots scoreless until allowing two unearned runs in the eighth.
Relievers Gian Balsamo, psychology sophomore, and Alan Bouterie, economics senior, allowed one baserunner in the final inning-and-a-third as the ‘Pack won, 3-2.
The next day, Loyola swept a doubleheader from the Pilots.
In the first game, Ryan Moity, communications senior, went two-for-three and had the game-winning RBI in the Pack’s 3-2 victory.
Balsamo got the win, pitching three scoreless innings to end the game.
After a strong start by communications senior Brad Showalter in the second game, the Wolfpack again hurt itself with errors.
In the fourth and fifth innings, the Loyola defense committed four errors, and three relief pitchers allowed seven runs – only three of them earned – as the Pilots went up, 11-4.
But the ‘Pack came right back in the bottom of the fifth, scoring five runs before the Pilots could record an out.
“When we got runners on base, everyone started to believe again, and [the win] happened,” Veltri said.
All told, Loyola scored six runs in the inning, trimming the lead to a run.
In the bottom of the seventh, Tory Western, accounting senior, reached on an error to lead off the inning.
Veltri singled him home and advanced to third on biology sophomore David Greiner’s single. Moity then drove in Veltri, giving Loyola a 12-11 win and a series sweep of the Pilots.
“We’ve had the confidence to know we could get it done when the pressure is on,” Mucerino said. “They don’t hang their head; they just battle through.”
The ‘Pack looked to stay hot and move into fourth place in the GCAC last weekend with a series against hated rival Spring Hill.
At the opener on Friday, the score was tied at two in the seventh.
With two outs, Moity got an RBI double, then scored on a single by Schenck. The ‘Pack held on for a 5-3 win.
The next day, Loyola’s four runs in the first two innings were enough for another 5-3 victory in game one.
Balsamo, who allowed only two hits in three-and-a-third innings of relief, got another win.
The second game of the day was even easier. Western started on the mound, pitching six scoreless innings in the 5-2 Loyola victory.
On Tuesday, the ‘Pack traveled to Baton Rouge to play a doubleheader against a much more formidable foe – the Southern University Jaguars.
Southern, a Division I school that leads the NCAA in run production, came in on a 22-game winning streak and had won 38 in a row at home.
The Jaguars dominated Loyola in the first game, winning 4-0.
But in the second game, the ‘Pack took charge and trounced Southern, 8-0.
Not only did the win snap the Jaguars’ winning streaks, but it was the first time the Jags had been shut out in 108 games.
“We pitched well, played good defense, and situationally hit,” Mucerino said. “Finding that combination is what is so important.”
Bouterie (3-1) pitched a complete game, struck out four and came within one out of a one-hitter.
Schenck went two-for-four and had three RBIs. He also scored two runs.
Loyola (15-30, 11-17 in the GCAC) will wrap up the regular season with a three-game series against Stillman College at Segnette this weekend.
“We had a big game against Southern,” Veltri said. “We’re playing at that level every day, and we’re capable of beating any team.”
