DUBUQUE, IOWA (Duhawks.com) – The Loras College Baseball program (8-6) split with Simpson College (3-9) on Saturday afternoon to wrap up their opening weekend of Iowa Conference play. Game one stayed close until the very end with Simpson pulling out a 7-6 victory. In game two, Loras' hitting broke out to score twelve runs in a 12-6 win. Sophomore Cole Reeg stole the show offensively for the Duhawks finishing the day 6-for-9 with three stolen bases and two RBIs.

Senior Will Petrosky got touched up in the first inning of the game one portion, allowing three runs to come across. Petrosky saw mostly zeros from then on out, allowing just one run over the course of his next five innings.

The senior found himself in a few jams down the stretch, but battled out of them with poise. Petrosky did his best to keep Loras in this one before the bullpen allowed three runs in the seventh inning. This outing was a large step in the right direction for Petrosky.

Loras struggled with men in scoring position all game, leading to a lack of offensive production until the seventh inning.

Down 7-3, Loras started off the bottom of the seventh with junior Lucas Jacque reaching on an error. After a single by Reeg, sophomore Thomas Johnson drove in the first run of the inning with a groundout, scoring Jacque from third.

An intentional walk to junior Patrick Walsh put runners at the corners for senior Spence Bonner who doubled down the left field line, scoring Reeg from third.

After a walk to sophomore Tony Heiser to load the bases, senior Adam Kennedy drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to cut the deficit to one. Unfortunately for the Duhawks, the rally fell short with a groundout to second by sophomore Luke Leibforth.

Simpson hit just .241 as a team, but their ability to capitalize in clutch moments proved to be the difference in the game.

Coming off a rough outing in Jacksonville, Walsh bounced back after a strenuous first inning in which Simpson plated four runs. It was the fourth time on the weekend that the Storm were able to score in the top of the first.

Walsh responded positively, going seven innings and allowing just the four earned runs, finishing with five strikeouts. The Glenbard East product kept the Duhawks in it before the bats could put it away for good.

Trailing by three heading to the home half of the third, the Duhawk bats erupted for five runs to take the 7-5 lead. Back-to-back-to-back base hits from Loras drove home runs off the bat of Kennedy and Leibforth. With the bases loaded, senior Anthony Flattery drove in two runs with his single to center to extend the lead.

In the fifth, Loras added to their lead three more runs to take a 10-6 lead.

Freshman Nick Spiess was called on to relieve Walsh in the eighth. After throwing three innings of no-hit ball on Friday, Spiess remained in dominant control, cruising through the eighth inning unscathed before handing it over to senior Connor Schreck.

Loras plated two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth to run their lead to 12-6.

In the ninth, Schreck recorded two quick outs before having to battle back to lock down the win.

Game Changer
Trailing by three in the bottom of the third in game two, the Duhawks rattled off five runs to take the 7-5 lead … The advantage earned by Loras would not be surrendered the rest of the way

Key Stat
Tony Heiser tore the cover off the ball on the weekend, going 8-for-14 with seven RBIs, bringing his batting average up to .449 and his on-base percentage to .500

Notable

• Carl Tebon now stands one win shy of 400 in his career at Loras … After the weekend series, his career mark is 399-371-3
• Patrick Walsh pushed his on-base percentage to .523 following the weekend with six walks, three hits, and reached base on an error once
• With his four innings of work on the weekend without allowing a hit, Nick Spiess dropped his opponents batting average to a meager .143

Quotable
Carl Tebon, Head Coach
"Baseball is a funny sport, you have to play every inning and every out, this weekend we came out more mentally focused with it being our conference opener. The guys were ready to play and it showed."

Up Next
Up next for the Duhawks is a series of doubleheaders in Cedar Rapids against the Kohawks of Coe College. Loras will take the field in Cedar Rapids on March 27 and 28 with each day starting at 1 p.m.