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

WAVERLY, Iowa (May 21, 2021) - After going 1-1 in the first day of the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Tournament, the Loras College baseball team (25-17, 17-15 A-R-C) met back up with the Simpson College Storm (18-23, 14-18 A-R-C) in game one of the day. The Duhawks walked away with a commanding 14-2 victory to eliminate the Storm and move on in the tournament against the Luther College Norse (29-14, 23-9 A-R-C), where senior shortstop Luke Fennelly hit a two-run shot in the sixth inning to secure a 9-6 win and stay alive to battle another day in the tournament.  

The first game of the day saw the Duhawks face the Storm for the second time of the tournament after the Storm fell to the Norse in the tournament's first game on Friday. Simpson got off to a 1-0 lead on an RBI single in the top of the first inning but it was the only time the Storm held a lead, as the Duhawks responded in the bottom half of the first inning by putting three up of their own. Fennelly got things going offensively with a one-out single to third base to bring Max Cullen to the plate, who drove in Fennelly from first on an RBI double to the gap in right center field. Dylan Pardoe followed in Cullen's footsteps a batter later and hit an RBI double of his own to left field for the second run of the game. A single off the bat of Daniel Rogers put two runners on the base path for Joe Egan, who hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Pardoe from third to give Loras a 3-1 lead. 

The Duhawks rode the momentum from the first inning into the second, extending their lead to 11 runs after Dakota Church led the inning off with a single into right field. Cullen drew a walk to put two on for Pardoe, who clobbered a home run to left center field to put the Duhawks up 6-1. Rogers followed up by notching his second single of the day and advanced to third on a passed ball before Egan reached first on a base on balls. With two outs in the inning, Ryan Wohlers lined a single through the right side of the infield to score Rogers and put Egan on second. Freshman second baseman Alex Kelsch brought two more runs across the plate on a bases-clearing double to left field that scored Wohlers and Egan before Church brought Kelsch home on an RBI single of his own. Fennelly capped off the nine-run inning with the second home run of the inning, putting a two-run shot over the wall in center field.

After a quiet midsection of the game, the Duhawks scored two more insurance runs after Pardoe continued his red hot day with a lead-off double to right center field and bring Rogers to the plate. Rogers reached first on a walk to put two runners on for Egan, who advanced Rogers and Pardoe to second and third, respectively, on a groundout. Senior right fielder Bill Luzzo took advantage of the two runners in scoring position and brought home Pardoe on a single to left field for the first run of the inning. Wohlers followed by reaching on a fielder's choice that saw Rogers score from third to bring the score to 14-1. 

With the ten-run rule in effect looming overhead, the Storm tried to make a comeback in the top of the sixth inning but the Duhawks proved to be too much to handle as the Duhawks claimed a 14-3 victory to eliminate the Storm and continue on to face the Luther College Norse. 

Curtis Lilienthal put on a clinic on the mound in game one, throwing a complete 7.0 inning game for the Duhawks, allowing only two runs on five hits with six strikeouts to his name. 

Pardoe owned the batter's box, racking up two doubles and a home run in the game, posting a career-high four hits and career-high four RBIs in a 4-5 performance at the plate. Church added three hits of his own while Fennelly, Rogers and Luzzo each posted two apiece as the Duhawks rifled off 16 total hits in the game. 

The Duhawks picked up right where they left off in the second game of the day against the Norse, taking an early 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning. A walk put Fennelly on the base path for the Duhawks to bring Cullen to the plate, who was hit by a pitch to take first. A batter later, Pardoe hit copy and paste and also reached after taking a pitch off the arm to load the bases for Rogers who belted a single to left field to score Fennelly from third. Two more runs came by way of a double down the right field line off the bat of Egan before an RBI groundout from Luzzo rounded out the four-run inning for the Duhawks. 

After a three-up, three-down bottom half of the first for the Norse, the Duhawks padded their lead at five runs in the top of the second inning on a one-out RBI single to right field that scored Kelsch from first, who reached on a lead-off single to left. Luther responded in the bottom of the second to put their first run on the board on an Owen Vander Linden RBI single through the left side.

Luzzo extended the Duhawks' lead back at five runs on an RBI single through the left side of the infield to score Egan from third after he led the top of the third inning off with a double, later advancing to third on a passed ball to bring the score to 6-1. 

The top of the fourth inning saw another run score for the Duhawks after Cullen reached on a one-out single through the right side. Pardoe followed up by reaching on a fielder's choice to put two runners on for Rogers, who also reached on a fielder's choice that scored Cullen on an error by the shortstop. 

With the score at 7-1, Luther scored five straight in the bottom of the fifth inning to come within one run of the Duhawks but the one-run differential didn't last long. A half inning later in the top of the sixth, Church drew a walk to bring Fennelly to the plate who hit his second home run of the day over the wall in right center field to give the Duhawks a three-run lead and bring the score to its resting place at 9-6. 

Wohlers got the start on the mound in game two and threw 4.0 innings, amassing five strikeouts while allowing five runs on four hits before Owen Funke made an apperance in relief. Funke shoved 2.0 innings, allowing one run on one hit with one strikeout to set up Ethan Peters, who closed out the game with a 3.0 inning performance, striking out four of the ten batters he faced. 

Egan led the bats against the Norse with two doubles to his name while Pardoe and Kelsch joined with two hits of their own. Fennelly hit the Duhawks' lone home run in the game for two RBIs with Egan and Luzzo driving in two each, also. 

Friday night's victory over the Norse forces the two A-R-C foes into a tiebreaker game on Saturday to decide who moves on to the Championship game on Sunday against the No. 1 seeded Coe College Kohawks. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 PM at Harms Stadium at Hertel Field on the campus of Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.