DUBUQUE, Iowa (Duhawks.com) - After a 3-1 weekend against Simpson, Loras Baseball continues Iowa Conference play on the road against Coe College. Last year, the Duhawks took three-of-four from Coe at home home April 11 and 12.

SCOUTING REPORT: COE
Coe's offense features three of the top bats in the Iowa Conference. Cole Tomlinson leads the team in batting average at .484, but is closely followed by Michael Redmond and Craig Konrardy. Konrardy currently holds a 12-game hitting steak, which speaks to his consistency at the plate. Tomlinson isn't far behind him however, reaching base in 12 consecutive games and holding a .600 OBP. On the mound, Coe has showcased three starters who've gotten the job done thus far. Jack Hoffmann leads all starters with a 2.45 ERA in three games. Hoffmann has been a bit lucky as he's allowed batters to hit .368 off of him. Not far behind Hoffmann is Connor Alberhasky. Alberhasky is second on the team in ERA at 2.85 and leads the conference in strikeouts with 23. Alberhasky has allowed 14 runs this season, but just six were earned.

DUHAWKS TAKE THREE-OF-FOUR FROM THE STORM
Loras came ready to play this past weekend, hitting .366 (48-of-131) as a team against the Storm of Simpson College. This strong play on offense allowed Loras to win three of their four games against the Storm despite surrendering early first inning runs in each game. On the mound, Loras showed resiliency. Despite allowing 10 first inning runs in four games the starting pitchers were able to overcome this and toss a combined 18 scoreless innings. Winning three on opening weekend is big for the Duhawks as they look to improve upon last seasons 19-23 record in which they lost three of their opening games to Simpson a year ago.

HEISER HEATING UP
With a hot start to the season, sophomore Tony Heiser has claimed a spot in numerous conference leader lists. Heiser continued this trend over the weekend, going 8-14 at the plate with seven RBI's and a home run. His strong play against Simpson raised his batting average to .449 and his on-base percentage to .500 on the year. Both of those marks rank him sixth in the conference. To go along with this, Heiser ranks fourth in the conference in both total hits and runs batted in. His 15 RBIs trail the league leader by just three. Heiser has been efficient with his ability to put the bat on the ball, striking out just three times in 14 games.

"YOU'RE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR BULLPEN"
As conference play is getting underway, head coach Carl Tebon has seen a mixed bag of results form his bullpen. Tebon believes that a good bullpen is one of the keys to success in the Iowa Conference. "I've always said it in this conference and you're only as good as your bullpen. If your bullpen can hold guys or keep you in games, you're going to be pretty good," said Tebon. Freshman Nick Spiess has led the bullpen to begin the year with an ERA of 3.75, but if the others can round into form Loras will have a bullpen to reckon with. The Duhawks have three upperclassmen in the pen that can all pitch in pressure situations in Connor Schreck, Nick Petruzzi, and Kody Massner. Each could benefit from more innings in order to work out some early season hiccups.

STARTING PITCHERS TAKE STEP FORWARD
After surrendering 52 runs at the hands of Hamline and MacMurray two weekends ago, the Duhawks saw an improvement in the rotation against Simpson by allowing just 17 runs in four games. While Duhawk fans would love to see that number even lower, it was a significant improvement as Loras opened conference play. After allowing 10 first inning runs, Loras went on to allow just seven runs in the remaining 28 innings of play. A lot of the credit goes to the starters who were able to hunker down and pitch out of jams. Senior Will Petrosky had the bases loaded behind him towards the end of his outing, only to respond with a strikeout to finish off his appearance. It's little things like that which allow the offense to extend and hold onto leads.

TEBON NEARS 400 CAREER WINS AS A DUHAWK
Head Coah Carl Tebon enters this weekends pair of doubleheaders with Coe just one win short of 400 career wins as the skipper for the Duhawks. After picking up three wins last weekend at home, Tebon now has 399 wins on his record. Now in his 19th season at the helm, Tebon has averaged 20 wins per season. If all goes according to plan, Tebon will become just the second coach in the Iowa Conference to record 400 wins at one program.

BURNING UP THE BASE PATHS
Just 14 games into the season the Duhawks have already claimed the conference lead in stolen bases. Coach Tebon is no stranger to teams that like to run and this years team is no different. Leading the team and the league, sophomore Cole Reeg has been at the forefront of this effort. Reeg has started each game for the Duhawks manning center-field, a position in demand of speed. So far this season, Reeg has capitalized on seven of his nine stolen base attempts. With 26 regular season games to go, it may be a possibility for the sophomore to break both the single-season and single-game record for steals. Reeg's current single-game high is two stolen bases, but with five steals coming in his last four games that could soon change. As a whole, the Duhawks have stolen 22 bases in 14 games. With players on the team such as senior Nate Even and the aforementioned Reeg, the Duhawks appear to be a running nightmare for opposing pitching and catching units. This trend should continue into this weekend against Coe with catchers Cole Tomlinson and Grant Henning having allowed nine stolen bases apiece.

KEYS TO BEATING THE KOHAWKS
The Duhawks are in search of four more wins this weekend and face a tough task going toe-to-toe with Coe College. Coe comes into this game having gone through the gauntlet against Wartburg last weekend, a tough task for any team in the Iowa Conference this season. Despite a 7-5 record Coe has seen mixed results to start the year. Following a 7-1 start, the Kohawks were buried by the Knights of Wartburg in a four-game sweep. In non-conference play, the Kohawks showed promise on the mound, which has led to their 3.77 team ERA heading into this weekend. Loras' potent offense will put this to the test just as Wartburg did with a team average of .332. It will be important to capitalize on runners in scoring position, as Coe starter Jack Hoffmann has been prone to allowing baserunners so far this season. With a .368 batting against him, the Duhawks will look to knock in the runs that his opponents have yet to. Loras will also be looking to take advantage of Coe's suspect defense. This season the Kohawks have committed 28 errors, second most in the conference to the Duhawks 31. Unearned errors are another staple in the Kohawk rotation, with Alberhasky having 14 to his name. Alberhasky has been very tough to hit however, leading the conference with 23 strikeouts in 19 innings pitched.

HOMECOMING OF SORTS FOR ROLING
When Loras and Coe kick off their series this weekend, it will be a homecoming of sorts for Loras Assistant Coach Nathan Roling. Prior to his hiring at Loras, Roling spent three seasons at Coe as the top assistant under Steve Cook. In addition to coaching in season, Roling worked closely with Cook on the recruiting side and is partially responsible for the current members of the Coe program.

LORAS PICKED TO FINISH THIRD IN IOWA CONFERENCE
In the preseason poll, the Iowa Conference coaches picked the Duhawks to finish third behind Buena Vista and Wartburg. In 2014, Loras advanced to the final day of the conference tournament before falling to Central. Loras has a young roster in 2015 and will look to stake claim towards the top of the Iowa Conference.