CHICAGO (March 10, 2021) – Loyola plays its final tournament of the spring when it heads to St. Louis for four games at the Billiken Spring Tournament, March 13 and 14. Since opening the 2021 campaign with six consecutive setbacks, the Ramblers have gone 2-3. Five of Loyola's nine losses this season have come by a single run.
 
Junior catcher Abbey Jacobsen has begun to heat up at the plate and has hit safely in five of the last six outings, batting .350 (7-for-20) with three RBI in those half-dozen contests, while Allyson Ivey is riding a three-game hitting streak and is hitting .290 (9-for-31) overall this year.
 
Scouting Western Illinois
Loyola and Western Illinois have matched up twice already this year, with the Leathernecks claiming both previous meetings at the DePaul Dome Tournament on Opening Weekend last month. The Leathernecks are 7-4 overall heading into the Billiken Spring Tournament, but have fallen in three of their last four outings.
 
Second baseman Piper Foote (.423/.529/.654) is a force in the WIU lineup, which also has designated player/pitcher Savannah Rodriguez hitting .303 (10-for-33) with a team-best eight RBI. In the circle, Rodriguez sports a 3-1 record and 1.45 ERA and has fanned 32 batters in 19.1 innings of work. 
 
Loyola assistant coach and Western Illinois alumnae Beth Golitko was the head coach at her alma mater in 2018 and 2019, while sophomore Tori Boysen transferred to Loyola this season after spending the 2020 campaign with the Leathernecks and hitting .212 (7-for-33) with a pair of doubles, a home run and five RBI. In her accomplished four-year playing career in Macomb, Golitko hit .326 with nine homers and 81 RBI. 
 
Scouting Saint Louis
After stumbling in its first six outings of the season, Saint Louis has split its last two contests and is coming off a 6-2 loss to Southern Illinois. At 1-7 overall this season, the Billikens will be playing at home for just the second time this season and first since an 8-5 loss to DePaul at the Billiken Sports Center on February 28.
 
As a team, Saint Louis is hitting .266 and center fielder Kat Lane leads the club with a .429 (12-for-28) batting average and sports a .484 on-base percentage out of the lead-off spot in the lineup. Catcher Alyssa Chavez provides some pop in the order and is batting .333 (9-for-27) with three doubles, a home run and five RBI.
 
Left-hander Aubrey Hacke has been the ace of the Billikens' staff this season and brings a 1-3 record and a 3.41 earned-run average into the tournament.
 
Up Next
The Ramblers open Missouri Valley Conference play with a three-game series at Evansville, March 20-21.