DECORAH, Iowa (Duhawks.com) – The Loras College Baseball program split with Luther College for the second consecutive day on Saturday in continue Iowa Conference play. Neither team was able to muster up much offense in game one as both pitchers dueled it out until Loras (14-11, 8-6) came up big in the final inning. The 1-0 victory was the lowest scoring game of the season for either team. Game two featured more offense on the side of Luther (12-14, 7-7), who won in a shortened game, 12-2.
In his first appearance since March 31 and his first start since March 28, junior
Alex Steines had his best outing of the year on Saturday afternoon. The junior tossed five scoreless innings of shutout ball, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out one.
Steines was relieved by senior
Connor Schreck who tossed two scoreless innings to earn his second victory of the season. Schreck allowed two hits while striking out two. Saturday marked the third consecutive scoreless outing for the senior.
Stealing the show offensively for the Duhawks was freshman
Thomas Johnson who came in to pinch-hit for sophomore
Nolan Ritter in the seventh inning. An RBI single down the right field line scored sophomore
Tony Heiser from second base for what would prove to be the game-winning run. Heiser went 2-for-3 for the game, but was one-upped by junior
Patrick Walsh who finished a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate.
A major turning point in game one came during the fifth inning, when the Duhawks pounced on an attempted squeeze by Luther. With Steines throwing a pitchout, Fahlgren stepped to his right and gunned out the runner on third who was attempting to score.
Things didn't go as well for the Duhawks defensively in game two, as they committed four errors behind the pitching of junior
Patrick Walsh and freshman
Nick Spiess. The junior threw three innings prior to being tagged with his third loss of the season.
Spiess didn't last long either, allowing five total runs to cross home in 2/3 of an inning of work before being replaced by sophomore
Zach Forkenbrock. In Forkenbrock's first appearance of the season he tossed two innings allowing one hit and two earned runs. Junior
Nick Petruzzi came on in relief and allowed two hits and two earned runs in his one inning of work.
A five-run inning in the bottom of the fourth blew the game wide open for the Norse, extending Luther's lead from three to eight.
Loras was unable to get going offensively in game two, scoring just two runs, both of which came in the fifth inning via error. Senior
Anthony Flattery provided the lone RBI for Loras while going 1-for-3 at the plate. Sophomore
Luke Leibforth finished off a solid weekend at the plate by going 2-for-2 with a run scored.
Game Changer - Game 1Senior
Danny Fahlgren threw out a baserunner at third base during the fifth inning … Following this out Luther put two more men on base which would have scored that lead runner
Game Changer – Game 2The Norse added five runs to their total in the fourth inning extending their lead from three to eight and sealing their victory
Key Stat – Game 1Despite allowing eight base runners in game one,
Alex Steines and
Connor Schreck induced 10 groundouts to get out of any jam they found themselves in
Key Stat – Game 2Loras hit a combined .148 in game two, one of their lowest averages of the season
Notable 