It’s been an exciting time for Loyola University, which recently announced it will be making the jump from the NAIA to NCAA Division II and its Gulf South Conference.
That news comes on the heels of a successful Wolfpack baseball season that saw the team earn a second consecutive Southern States Athletic Conference championship, winning four games in four days at the conference tournament in Jackson, Tenn. to seal the honor.
Sophomore Ayden Authement has been part of a few championship teams.
At St. Charles Catholic, the Luling native was part of a core group that won four state championships over football and baseball. Those titles were split evenly – he quarterbacked the Comets football team to two rings, and helped spur his team to two more on the baseball diamond where he was a standout second baseman. Already, as a collegiate player, he’s been part of two conference champions.
This season, however, was Authement’s true breakout season at Loyola, and his first as a starter after limited at-bats in his freshman and redshirt freshman seasons. In 2026 he posted a .354 batting average – second best on the team – while starting 27 of his 30 appearances. His .505 on-base percentage was a team-best mark.
Authement drove in 17 runs and scored 15 while stealing 10 bases.
He missed a portion of the season due to injury, sidelined from early March to the final week of April. He didn’t miss a beat upon his return to the lineup. Authement batted .333 over the next six games, getting at least one hit in each of them.
At the SSAC conference tournament, he drove in a run in three of the four games. By season’s end, he manned the cleanup spot in the order, batting fourth. Defensively, he served as a utility player, primarily playing in the outfield this season. Loyola finished the year with a 37-19 record and qualified for the NAIA national tournament before bowing out in round one.
Authement was the fifth among his brothers to play both football and baseball at SCC. Grant, Ross, Dane and Bryce played before him, each wearing No. 7 on the football field and No. 1 on the baseball diamond – and each helping propel St. Charles to big wins and deep playoff runs in both sports.
The youngest of the five cemented his own legacy at St. Charles, earning Most Outstanding Player honors in the championship games of both football and baseball during his senior year. His final postseason run at the school was one to remember. He went 13-for-24 at the plate in the postseason of his senior year, good for a scorching batting average of .542. On the season, he was named District Player of the Year and was an All-State first team selection.
