SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
Heading into this weekends series with the Duhawks, Wartburg leads the conference with a 17–3 record. With an overall record of 24–8, the Knights rank No. 21 nationally in the D3baseball.com Poll. Wartburg has had plenty of success on the road going 13–1, but hold a 6–4 record on their home turf. The Knights' bread and butter is on the mound, where they boast one of the best pitching staffs in the nation. As a team, Wartburg ranks in the top-five nationally in ERA (2.56), walks per nine innings (2.34), strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.2) and walks plus hits per innings pitched (1.15). Each of their four starting pitchers hold ERA's under 3.00 and have pitched at least 50 innings on the season, a mark of their longevity in games. As a team, the Knights have held opposing batters to a .236 average. Offensively, Wartburg ranks fifth in the Iowa Conference with a .291 batting average and 171 runs scored, both marks sit behind the Duhawks. Zach Hovick is one of the best hitters in the conference, coming into Friday's action with a batting average of .362 alongside a team-high 24 RBIs.

KOESTER CONSISTENT AT THE PLATE
Sophomore Ryan Koester has been a consistent offensive threat for the Duhawks throughout the 2016 season. The first baseman has a .303 batting average and leads the team in both home runs (7) and RBIs (25). Koester's seven home runs on the year is tied for second in the Iowa Conference, sitting one behind Jacob Thumann of Wartburg. In Indianola this past weekend, the West Chicago native continued his success by finishing 7-for-14 from the plate with seven RBIs, two doubles, a triple and a home run, earning Iowa Conference Player of the Week honors.

SCHWIND BACK IN THE GROOVE
Sophomore Brad Schwind threw a total of seven innings during Saturday's doubleheader against Simpson. Schwind struck out nine Storm batters, allowing five hits, one earned run and two walks to leave him with a no-decision. After this impressive performance on the mound, Schwind lowered his season ERA from 6.57 to 5.73 and climbed to first on the team for strikeouts with with 50.

DUHAWKS FIGHTING FOR CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT BERTH
Heading into this weekends series with Central, the Duhawks sit at 6–14 in the Iowa Conference and 12–18 overall. The Duhawks will need to take at least four games out of their last eight games of the season to keep their chances of a conference tournament berth alive.

DRAWING WALKS AND WORKING THE COUNT
In six games this season, Loras has been limited to one free pass. In 30 games this year, the Duhawks have drawn 93 walks, an average of 3.1 per game. Twice in the past five games, the Loras has drawn seven walks. Danny Paluch currently has a 10 game on-base streak, which has been extended on three occassions by walks. Patrick Walsh leads the team with 15 walks.  

PALUCH EMBRACING NEW ROLE
Freshman Danny Paluch has made the transition from being an infielder to an outfielder with little regard for the learning curve. The Brother Rice graduate has played infield, right field and lately center field and has raised his batting average to .353, which ranks four on the squad. Like Austin Konagel, Paluch's versatility and consistency at the plate and in the field as well as the ability to play around the diamond has given head coach Carl Tebon more options for his lineup card especially with the Duhawks fighting for the last spot in the IIAC Tournament.