After closing out the regular season at 25-29 and 16-14 in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, Loyola lost to Belhaven 11-10 on Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the GCAC tournament.
Loyola coach Doc Beeman said his team had confidence entering tournament play. As has been the team’s trademark all year, the ‘Pack fought hard and refused to quit in the face of adversity but it was not enough to beat Belhaven.
Jeff Pippenger (5-4) took the loss for Loyola. He went 4.1 innings and gave up seven runs on ten hits. Loyola was led at the plate by management junior David Lauricella, who had three hits. Communications senior Kevin Kalina, finance sophomore Marc Jaynes, management senior Brad Rodrigue and management sophomore Brian Mason each had two hits in the contest.
Before the tournament, Loyola proved to be a formidable foe for GCAC regular season winner LSU-Shreveport during a weekend series between the two, as the teams played three one-run games.
Last Friday at LSU-Shreveport’s Pilot Field, LSU-S won the first contest, 2-1. LSU-S’ James Thomas took a win in a pitcher’s duel over Loyola’s combination of starter Gian Balsamo, criminal justice senior, and reliever Brian Sullivan (3-4), communications junior, who took the loss. Balsamo gave up one run on four hits through five innings while Sullivan pitched three innings and gave up one run on two hits.
The score was 1-1 in the sixth inning when LSU-S’ Dustin Bissonnette led off the sixth inning with a triple, leading to the team’s go-ahead run. It held up for the duration.
Loyola struck back on Saturday, however. The Wolfpack won the first game of a doubleheader, 4-3.
The ‘Pack trailed by one in the seventh inning, but communications sophomore Andy Rodriguez’s clutch RBI single brought home biology senior David Griener to tie the contest.
As the game went into extra innings, Loyola struck again in the 10th, this time for the win. Jaynes doubled and brought home management senior David Sudyka for the go-ahead run.
With one on in the bottom half of the inning, the Pilots’ Chris Frye threatened Loyola with a shot to center field, but physics senior Greg Veltri made an over-the-head catch to preserve the victory.
“He has performed all year in all aspects of the game,” Loyola coach Doc Beeman said of Veltri. “I expected him to make that catch. More importantly, the whole team expected it.”
Biology sophomore Joey Vila was 3-for-5 with a run scored. Reliever and communications sophomore Danny Gonzalez (1-0) took the win as he gave up two hits in five innings. Starter Jeb Bauer gave up three runs, two earned, in four innings and struck out three.
In the second game of the doubleheader, LSU-S defeated Loyola, 7-6.
Loyola’s Casey Cadella (0-1) took the loss. He gave up seven runs, one earned, on six hits.
Griener, Mason and Rodrigue each had two hits in the contest.
Beeman cited depth as the main difference between his program and LSU-Shreveport.
Last Wednesday night, Loyola faced the University of New Orleans as the Privateers out slugged the ‘Pack, 15-11.
Loyola had 17 hits in the contest, including four by Mason and three by Vila. Jaynes hit two two-run home runs, and Mason knocked one over the fence as well.
‘Pack reliever Paul Neill (4-1), general studies freshman, took his first loss of the year, giving up four unearned runs on three hits.
Beeman said he is proud of the competitiveness and desire his team played with during the regular season.
“Our team has competed all year,” Beeman said. “Whether we are good (at this point) or not is up in the air. However, we certainly have enjoyed beating teams that are considered good.”
Ryan Arena can be reached at [email protected].
