CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (Duhawks.com) - After a 5-1 win over Buena Vista in their first game of the day, Loras bounced back with a 2-0 win over Luther thanks to great pitching and defense. Reeling from back-to-back wins in elimination games, the Loras Baseball team saw their season come to an end Friday night, falling to Central 8-0.

After Loras' win over Buena Vista, the Duhawks turned to junior Alex Steines for the start against Luther. Before the Dubuque native took the mound for his first pitch, Loras had taken the lead, thanks in part to sophomore Cole Reeg's leadoff double. Reeg would later come around to score on a sacrifice fly from junior Patrick Walsh to make it 1-0.

Two base hits were all Luther mustered in the first two innings while striking out three times. Steines was having success locating his off-speed pitches as well as coming in hard on the right-handed batters with the fastball.

The Duhawks nearly blew the game wide open in the third after loading the bases with three straight singles. Unfortunately that's where the base hits halted, as Loras went down in order to leave the bases full.

Holding on to the one-run lead through four innings, Loras plated an insurance run in the fifth on a RBI single from senior Spence Bonner. With as well as Steines was on the mound, the two-run lead his team gave him was more than enough.

Steines was hoping to throw the complete game, but Head Coach Carl Tebon opted to turn the game over to senior Connor Schreck. With runners at the corners and one out, Schreck induced a pop out and a ground out to end the rally and advance Loras to the next round of the consolation bracket.

With the win, the Duhawks advanced to face Central in their third elimination game of the day. The Dutch, who lost to Coe on Thursday 7-2, came into Friday night's contest fresh and ready to play.

After two quick outs in the top of the first, Walsh scorched a double to the right field wall. Unfortunately for the Duhawks, that would be one of the three hits they recorded on the day, and Walsh was left stranded at second.

On the mound in his seventh start of the season, Walsh struggled from the opening pitch, allowing two singles and two runs to Central in the opening frame.

A double to the warning track in center from senior Adam Kennedy to lead off the second was stranded as Loras was unable to scratch away at the early deficit.

The Dutch kept their offense rolling score two more runs in the second before chasing Walsh after just 1 2/3 innings. In relief, freshman Nick Spiess did everything he could to keep the Duhawks close, but a pair of walks and a single chased Spiess from the game in favor of Schreck.

In his second appearance of the day, Schreck worked through his second-longest outing of the year, allowing three hits and two runs in the process.

Trailing by eight and with the offense having little success, Tebon handed the ball to senior Will Petrosky in what would be his last career collegiate outing.

In relief, Petrosky was solid, throwing three innings of one-hit ball, striking out two in the process.

While Central's offense was on point, Matt Schissel had Loras' number all game long, limiting the Duhawks to three hits over eight innings while striking out four times. Even though two of Loras' four hits were for extra-bases, the Duhawks were kept from finding an offensive rhythm all game long.

Game Changer - Loras vs. Luther
Cole Reeg led off the game with a double to left field and later came around to score, giving the Duhawks the early lead … The early lead gave Alex Steines enough comfort on the mound to pitch a strong game and hold the Luther offense in check

Game Changer - Loras vs. Central
The Dutch scored two runs in each of the first three innings to jump out to a 6-0 lead … That coupled with Loras' struggles at the plate created a deficit that was insurmountable

Key Stat - Loras vs. Luther
Luther was 0-for-14 with runners on base, directly correlating to their inability to capitalize on scoring chances

Key Stat - Loras vs. Central
Central had the leadoff man reach in four of the eight innings, including three of the four in which they scored

Notables