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

Apr. 23, 2021 - Opening a full weekend of baseball at Petrakis Park, the Loras College baseball team (15-9, 10-8 A-R-C) played host to American Rivers Conference foe Central College (9-15, 6-12 A-R-C) on Friday night. A sixth-inning boost saw four runs cross the plate to catapult the Duhawks to an 8-5 victory over the Dutch but settled for a split after falling in game two. 

A lead off homerun in the top of the first inning from Central's Lucas Farren gave the Dutch a 1-0 lead from the get-go but the Duhawks quickly responded in the bottom of the inning to bring the score to an even 1-1. Joe Egan got things going for Loras, reaching base after being hit in the head by a pitch. With an out in the side, first baseman Max Cullen showed discipline at the plate and put another runner on the base path for Dylan Pardoe, who lined a single down the right field line to load the bases for Dakota Church. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Church brought Egan home to score the Duhawks' first run of the game. 

With the score tied, the Dutch added two more runs in their favor in the top half of the second inning on another homerun, this time a two-run shot by Tanner Bigelow. As was the story in the inning prior, the Duhawks added a run in the bottom of the second after Chris Costantino led the inning off with a triple to deep left center field to bring JD Mettham to the plate. Mettham reached base on a throwing error from the shortstop to score Costantino from third and cut the Dutch's lead to one run after two. 

The score stayed at 3-2 until the bottom of the fourth inning when two runs scored for the Duhawks after a pair of singles from Costantino and Mettham led the inning off for Loras. Mitch Gruber came in to run for Mettham who left the game with an injury for Alex Kelsch to step in the box and reach after being hit by a pitch to load the bases. With one out in the inning, Luke Fennelly reached base on a fielder's choice to the short stop that brought Costantino home to tie the game at 3-3. Loras took the lead once again in the game as Cullen reached base on another error by the shortstop that scored Gruber from third to put the Duhawks up 4-3 at the end of the fourth inning. 

Central tacked on two more runs in the top half of the fifth inning to go up by one at 5-4 where the score stayed until the bottom of the sixth when the Duhawks' offense erupted. Egan and Fennelly each reached base on singles to left field to put two runners on base. With two outs in the inning, Pardoe smacked a single to shortstop to lead the bases for Church, who singled to left field and scored Fennelly and Egan to go up 6-5. With runners on first and second, Bill Luzzo lined a single to left field to score Pardoe and bring Costantino to the plate. Costantino drove in Chruch from second to bring the score to its resting place at 8-5 in favor of the Duhawks. 

Matt Jeter got the start on the mound for Loras, allowing five runs on ten hits in 4.1 innings of work before head coach Carl Tebon turned to Ethan Peters for relief. Peters earned his second win of the season, throwing 2.2 innings, striking out five of the seven batters he faced. 

Costantino led the Duhawks offensively in game one, going 3-4 with one RBI and scoring two runs while Church drove in three runs, going 1-3 at the plate as the Duhawks amassed a solid 11 hits in the game. 

Game two saw Central score a run apiece in the second, third and fourth innings to go up 3-0 until the sixth inning when they widened their lead by another run before Egan crushed a homerun over the left field wall to bring the score to its final 4-1. 

Marshall Rice threw 6.0 innings on the bump for the Duhawks, allowing four runs on ten hits with four strikeouts before Erik Edminster got the call in the seventh inning. Edminster dished 3.0 innings and struck out five of the nine batters he faced, holding the Dutch hitless in his time on the mound. 

Egan and Cullen recorded the Duhawks' only hits in the game with Egan scoring the lone run on his solo shot in the sixth inning. 

The Duhawks return to Petrakis Park on Saturday, April 24 as they close out the series against the Dutch. First pitch is slated for 4:00 PM.