Baseball | April 19, 2016
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
The Spartans head into Tuesday's doubleheader having stolen one game against Wartburg in this past weekends Iowa Conference bout. Dubuque currently sits at 14–14 overall, with a 6–8 record in the Iowa Conference. Doug Van Dyke, Reed Stumpf and Jacob Padilla have been a measure of consistency on the mound for the Spartans in 2016, with ERA's of 4.08, 4.57 and 4.59. Stumpf is the workhorse of the group, pitching four complete games in seven starts, including two in each of his last two starts. The Spartans don't strike out much on the offensive end, ranking second in the conference behind the Duhawks with 110 strikeouts on the season. Dubuque has played with several different line-ups in 2016, with 16 different players receiving starts in the field at one point or another, 12 of which have started more than 10 games.
KOESTER'S MOONFRUIT COMPANY
Sophomore Ryan Koester is establishing himself as the first legitimate power threat for the Duhawks since Billy Kass in 2012. Kass led the Iowa Conference with eight home runs and ranked third with 34 RBIs. In 2016, Koester ranks second in the Iowa Conference with six home runs while batting .266. With 14 games remaining on the conference schedule, Koester has the opportunity to become the first Duhawk to lead the IIAC in home runs since 2012. The all-time Iowa Conference record for home runs in a single season is 15, set by former Loras student-athlete Justin Pierro in 1998.
HEISER BREAKS OUT OF EARLY SEASON SLUMP TO LEAD OFFENSIVE ATTACK
Junior Tony Heiser was the force behind the Duhawk offense during Saturday's doubleheaders against Coe. Heiser had half of the Duhawks six total hits, resulting in a season-high for the Lincolnshire, Ill. native. Despite Loras' best efforts, they fell 8-0 in the first game and 13-11 in the second. Heiser currently sits fourth on the team with a .351 batting average, leaving last year's .277 average in the dust.
DUHAWKS SETTING NEW SEASON RECORDS
Duhawks offense looks to be heating up as conference play continues. During their two doubleheaders against Coe over the weekend the Duhawks offense set several individual game team records and tied several others. On Saturday, junior Thomas Johnson tied this year's individual team record for hits in a game with four hits and sophomore Ryan Koester also tied this year's individual game team record for RBI's by knocking in five Duhawk base runners. Most of those five runs coming off of two home runs that Koester hit.
KONAGEL WORKING WAY INTO LINEUP
Freshman Austin Konagel has worked his way into the starting lineup, earning the nod from head coach Carl Tebon in three of last weekend's four games against Coe. He has started eleven games this season in total, and each of the last nine. Konagel has raised his average to .372, including five hits this weekend against Coe.
DUHAWKS SHOWING GREAT PLATE DISCIPLINE
The Duhawks this year have had great discipline at the plate, striking out a meager 109 times, which is lowest in the Iowa Conference. At the completion of the 2013 season, Loras led the IIAC in batters striking out at a mark of 251. Since then, the batters in the Purple and Gold have been much more disciplined at the plate. The trend continued into last season with Loras striking out 200 times for the second lowest spot. Being over halfway done with the regular season, the Duhawks have a chance at capturing the least amount of strikeouts as a team in the Iowa Conference.
JOHNSON, THE ANTI-STRIKEOUT KING
Thomas Johnson has come to the plate 72 times and has struck out twice. This season a pitcher has a better chance of walking Johnson (eight walks) than he does of striking him out. Johnson is the forth hardest batter to strike out in Division III. Johnson leads the team in both batting average at .403 and on-base-percentage at .476. The Kaukauna, Wis. native is currently riding a five-game hitting streak heading into Tuesday's tilt with Univ. of Dubuque.
