SCOUTING THE BEAVERS Fresh off a trip to Arizona over spring break, the Beavers enter Iowa Conference play amidst a four-game winning streak. Throughout their spring trip, Buena Vista had immense success in the batters' box while pitching was questionable over their eight-game trip, allowing an average of 8.5 runs per game. The Beavers had offensive outbursts of their own however, scoring an average of 11.8 runs per game, including a 24-3 victory over George Fox. Buena Vista has pounded opposing pitchers to a slash line of .339/.440/.518 with 54 extra-base hits to their record.
STEINES NAMED IIAC MALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Senior
Alex Steines is off to a stellar start this season for the Duhawks, earning Iowa Conference honors as Male Athlete of The Week for his 15 strikeout performance against Mount Saint Vincent. Against the Dolphins, Steines allowed three hits and no earned runs. The Dubuque product holds a team-best 2.16 ERA, while striking out 27 batters in the process. Steines has started four games, pitching a total of 25.0 innings en route to a 3-0 record. Through four starts, Steines leads the Iowa Conference in innings pitched and wins. This week Steines faces off against Buena Vista, a team in which he held to one run over 8.0 innings of work in 2015.
DUHAWKS FACE TOUGH TASK IN IOWA CONFERENCE The Duhawks travelled to Auburndale, Fla. for their spring trip, finishing with a 4-2 record and improving their overall record to 6-4. The week came to a close with a 10-1 win over Mount Saint Vincent, which was the first win in a Florida Trip finale since the 2012 season. The Duhawks head into conference play having seen a mixed bag of results over the past two seasons. In fact, over the past two years Loras holds a 26-30 record against teams in the Iowa Conference with seven of those losses coming by one run. In 2015, the Duhawks finished with a 13-15 record in conference play, while finishing 8-7 in one run games overall. Loras was 8-3 in one run games entering the final week of the regular season in which they were swept by Central, all by one-run margins.
DUHAWKS RACKING UP THE RUNS The Duhawks have scored five or more runs in seven of their 10 games this season. When they score more than five runs, they are 6-1 on the season.
Nolan Ritter,
Thomas Johnson and Luke Leiborth lead the team in runs scored at 10. Ritter leads the team in stolen bases with four, Leibforth leads the team in walks at seven and Johnson has an ability to get on base one way or another as he has scored in eight of the last 10 games and currently has reached base in the last nine games. This combined with the senior play of
Lucas Jacque and
Patrick Walsh creates a lineup destined to run up the score.
WALSH BACK ON THE MARK Senior
Patrick Walsh earned his first victory over the season in convincing fashion, tossing a complete game shutout over Thomas last week. Against the Terriers, Walsh tossed 7.0 innings, allowing five hits and two walks, while striking out six. After missing time from the rotation in 2015, his start confirms that he will be a reliable arm for head coach
Carl Tebon in 2016. Over his career, Walsh owns a 10-7 career record with five complete games, three career shutouts and 91 strikeouts.
STEINES NOMINATED FOR HERO OF THE WEEK Each week, Hero Sports nominates 10 student-athletes from their respective sports as Hero of the Week candidates. Thanks to his 15 strikeout performance against Mount Saint Vincent, senior
Alex Steines has been nominated this week.Teammate and sophomore
Brad Schwind was named a baseball Hero of the Week two weeks ago for his performance against Elmhurst. Steines earned his third win of the season thanks to his performance against the Dolphins, while taking the team-lead in strikeouts with 27. Last season, Steines led the Duhawks in punchouts with 55. The senior has improved his command in 2016 with a near 4-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio. In 2015, Steines held a ratio closer to 2-to-1 with 55 strikeouts and 29 walks.
PAIR OF DUHAWKS OWN CAREER-BEST STREAKS Senior
Lucas Jacque currently has a 10-game hitting streak which goes hand in hand with his on-base streak of 10. He's not the only Duhawk who is stringing it together as sophomore
Ryan Koester has a seven game hitting streak along with a nine game on-base streak. This season, Jacque is hitting .425 with 17 hits, two shy of his career-high of 19 and owns an on-base percentage of .439. Koester is hitting .351 with 4 walks and 13 hits, his on-base percentage of .419 ranks fourth among Duhawk starters.
