The Loyola Wolfpack fought hard in its baseball season opening series last weekend, but could not overcome a difficult foe. Faulkner downed Loyola in all three games of the series, winning 8-6, 7-1 and 10-8.
Coach Doc Beeman said he was proud of his team’s effort but acknowledged that his team has work to do to reach its expectations.
“Faulkner’s a proven winning program, and they took advantage of their opportunities to win this game,” Beeman said. “But this team [Loyola] doesn’t know how to quit. It’s going to take time for these guys to learn how to put teams away, but once it starts, it will grow quickly.”
Indeed, the ‘Pack had opportunities to defeat Faulkner in the late innings of two of the games.
On Saturday, the teams faced off in a doubleheader. In the first game, physics senior Greg Veltri slapped a two-run single to give the ‘Pack a 2-1 lead in the third inning. Faulkner fired back in the fourth, taking a 4-2 advantage.
The teams would tussle until the score was knotted up at six after catcher Brad Rodriguez hit a two-run RBI single.
However, in the eighth inning, Faulkner’s Jared Johnson would become the hero, hitting a two-run home run shot off Loyola closer Brian Sullivan, communications junior.
Sullivan (0-1) took the loss. Criminal justice senior Jeff Pippenger started the contest, giving up seven hits, three earned runs and striking out three.
For Faulkner, Jason Beasley (1-0) got the victory in relief.
The second game would not mend the ‘Pack’s wounds, however, as the team fell by a 7-1 score. Faulkner starter Adam Moore only gave up two hits in the game, and reliever Daniel Outlaw picked up his third win of the season.
Loyola starter and communications sophomore Jason Blakeman (0-1) took the loss. He went five innings and gave up three hits, but those three hits led to four runs, three earned.
Veltri had the ‘Pack’s lone RBI, as he doubled in management senior David Sudyka in the fourth inning.
Sunday’s game, however, was a heartbreaker for the Wolfpack. Loyola’s Andy Rodriguez singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth, but Faulkner singled four straight times to tie the game at five in the ninth. The next batter walked, and Faulkner added four more runs to take a 10-5 lead. Loyola rallied in the bottom half of the inning but fell two runs short.
Sullivan (0-2) again took the loss, but Beeman said he still feels confident putting Sullivan in the pressure spot of a closer.
“Sullivan’s our guy at the end of the game,” Beeman said. “Saturday, we put him in a bad position, shouldn’t have put him back out there. His job’s to shut it down for one inning, not two. Sunday, it was just a case where he threw one bad pitch.”
Beeman said he was not concerned with Sullivan’s long-term performance.
“We’re going to win a lot more games with him in there at the end than we lose,” he said. “You can’t be in that position at the end and never have it go wrong.”
Despite the rough start, Beeman said that he took many positives from the weekend series. In particular, Beeman said he was pleased with the production that the team received from the bottom of the order and also said he was able to get a good feel for his team’s personnel, particularly the less experienced members of the team.
Loyola travels to Pineville to play Louisiana College on Saturday at 2 p.m. before returning home to face Spalding. The first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Segnette Field.
As for the rest of the season, Beeman is confident in his squad.
“We’re gonna get there,” he said. “How fast we get there is up to the guys on this team. But once we do, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Ryan Arena can be reached at [email protected].
