Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243

LINCOLN, Neb. (Mar. 20, 2021) - In the second day of a weekend trip to Nebraska, the Loras College baseball team (7-1, 4-0 A-R-C) took on the Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves (2-8, 0-4 A-R-C) and completed the series sweep after taking both games on Friday and dominated Saturday with two wins, scoring a combined 29 runs and ending the second game by the ten-run rule. Luke Fennelly had an incredible day at the plate, amassing three homeruns, hitting a career-high two in the first game and one in the second. 

The Duhawks got off to an immediate 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning, scoring all five runs with two outs on the side. After Joe Egan and Dakota Church flied out for the first two outs, Fennelly crushed a homerun to left center field for the first run of the inning. Max Cullen continued to produce at the place with a single through the left side followed by Dylan Pardoe who walked to put two on the bases for Ryan Wohlers. Wohlers reached on a third baseman error that scored Cullen from second and advanced Pardoe to third, bringing Bill Luzzo to the plate for the Duhawks. Luzzo lined a double to left field that cleared the bases, scoring Wohlers and Pardoe to give Loras a 4-0 lead. Nick DiBenedetto drove in the final run of the inning on an RBI single that scored Luzzo from second. 

After a three-up, three-down bottom of the first, Loras continued to bring the heat offensively by adding on three more runs to their already comfortable five-run lead. Egan reached second on a lead-off double to left center field that was followed by a Church fly out and a Fennelly hit by pitch that put two runners on the bases for Cullen. Cullen reached base on a fielder's choice that saw Fennelly advance to scoring position on second but Egan get thrown out at third to bring Pardoe to bat. Pardoe drove in two on an RBI single, advancing around the bases to third on an error from center field. Wohlers added the last run on an RBI single that brought Pardoe home from third to bring the score to 8-0 after just two innings of play. Nebraska Wesleyan added their first run of the game in the bottom half of the same inning on an error that scored Noah Unger, who was on second after a wild pitch. 

As was the story in the first inning, the Duhawks scored with two outs on the board after DiBenedetto led off with a line out to first base followed by Alex Kelsch who reached base on a shortstop error and moved to second on an Egan single. With Kelsch and Egan on the bases, Fennelly hit his second two out homer of the day, adding three more runs to the Duhawks score to take the game to 11-1 after the top of the third. Nebraska Wesleyan avoided the run rule in the bottom of the third on a homerun to left field from Derek Kolbush.

After a scoreless top half of the fourth inning for the Duhawks, the Prairie Wolves took advantage and scored four with the first coming from a sacrified fly out to left field from Paul Georget that scored Unger from third. Mason Bennett posted an RBI single to score Angel Reynoso and Kolbush hit another homerun to bring the score to 11-6.

The Duhawks responded in the top of the fifth by adding two more to their lead after Fennelly doubled to left center that advanced Egan to third. A passed ball advanced the runners and scored Egan, putting Fennelly on third. After Cullen drew a walk, Pardoe stepped up to bat and hit an RBI single up the middle that scored Fennelly from third to bring the score to 13-6. 

The score remained unchanged until Loras continued the attack in the top of the seventh inning, adding two more runs on an RBI sacrifice fly out to right field from Pardoe that scored Church. A passed ball saw Fennelly score the final run of the game, bringing the score a final 15-6. 

Matt Jeter (W, 1-0) racked up his first win of the season after throwing a solid 5.0 innings, allowing six runs on ten his with three strikeouts before Julian Lopez came in at relief. Lopez put in 2.0 innings of work on the mound and allowed no runs on zero hits, striking out two of the six batters he faced. 

The Duhawks tallied 14 hits in total with both Fennelly and Pardoe going 3-3 on the day. Fennelly shined with a career-high two homeruns and a career-high four RBIs, scoring five for the Duhawks while Pardoe also amassed a career-high four RBIs with two runs scored. 

Game two saw the Duhawks ride the momentum from the game prior with Fennelly going yard yet again in the top of the first, scoring Church who was on first after he hit a single up the middle. After a duo of singles from Cullen and Pardoe with both runners advancing on a passed ball, Wohlers stepped up to the plate and flied out to right field, scoring Cullen from third to give the Duhawks an immediate 3-0 lead after the top of the first. Nebraska Wesleyan added one run in the bottom half of the first on an RBI single through the left side from John Haimowitz. 

Daniel Rogers joined Fennelly by smashing a lead-off homerun of his own in the top of the second inning to take the score to 4-1 in favor of the Duhawks. 

After two scoreless innings from either side, the Duhawks got right back to work in the top of the fifth with Fennelly reaching base with one out after being hit by a pitch, forcing Nebraska Wesleyan to go to the bullpen to bring in Dan Hundley to face Cullen. Cullen was unphased by the pitching change as he lined a triple down the right field line, scoring Fennelly from first. Pardoe followed suit and placed a double into the right center field gap that brought Cullen across the plate with Wohlers at the plate. Wohlers hit a routine single to right field, advancing Pardoe to third for Luzzo, who drew a walk that saw Pardoe score on a wild pitch from Nebraska Wesleyan's Hundley that ended his day on the mound for the Prairie Wolves. With Aiden Bennett now on the mound, Rogers stepped up to the plate and drew a walk to load the bases for Kelsch, who singled to right field and scored Luzzo and Wohlers to bring the score to 9-1. Egan added another run for the Duhawks after he reached on a fielder's choice that saw Kelsch get thrown out at second but brought Rogers across the plate. After two walks and a passed ball put three runners on the bases, Cullen walked with bases loaded to score the seventh and final Duhawk run of the inning to bring the score to 11-1. 

After the Prairie Wolves added three in the bottom of the sixth inning, Loras furthered their lead in the top half of the seventh after Church led off with a walk and Fennelly racked up a double to move Church to third. With two runners in scoring position, Cullen drove a double to left field to clear the bases and bring the score to 13-4. Cullen advanced to third on a ground out from Pardoe that paid off as Cullen went on to score on a passed ball to give the Duhawks a ten-run lead. After three straight Prairie Wolves fly outs in the bottom of the seventh, the game ended by the ten-run rule in favor of the Duhawks to improve their record to 7-1 on the season, going 4-0 in A-R-C competition. 

Marshall Rice (W, 1-0) had a stellar outing on the mound for the Duhawks, throwing 6.0 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with nine strikeouts. Curtis Lilienthal came in relief of Rice and threw 1.0 innings, retiring the side in the bottom half of the seventh to close out the game. 

Fennelly impressed at the plate again for the Duhawks, going 3-4 with two RBIs and a double and homerun in the second straight game. Cullen's bat stayed hot in game two with a double and a triple, going 3-4 with four RBIs. 

The Duhawks are back in action on Friday, Mar. 26 as they host the Buena Vista University Beavers in their home-opener at Petrakis Park. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 PM in Dubuque, Iowa.