Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243
 
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. (Feb. 27, 2022) – The 2022 season kicked off on Sunday for the Loras College baseball team (2-0, 0-0 A-R-C) as they made their way south to Jacksonville, Ill. to play a pair of non-conference games against the Augustana College Vikings (3-1, 0-0 CCIW) and the Illinois College Blue Boys (0-1, 0-0 MWC). The Duhawks served both the Vikings and Blue Boys their first losses of the season, winning both in comeback fashion.
 
The first game of the day featured the Duhawks and the Vikings from Augustana College, seeing junior pitcher Matt Jeter make the start on the mound. Augustana retired the side in the top of the first inning, going three up, three down before taking an early 3-0 lead on a trio of RBI singles. Two innings later, after a scoreless second inning for both sides, the Vikings struck again, adding two more runs to their lead to go ahead by five after three innings of play.
 
The Duhawks fought their way back in the top of the fourth inning after Dakota Church led the inning off with a walk to put a runner on first. With an out in the inning, Max Cullen hit a double to left field and put two runners in scoring position for Daniel Rogers to bring home on a ground out to the shortstop to cut the deficit to three runs. Dylan Pardoe followed with a triple to deep center field with Ryan Wohlers due up at the plate, who hit a single to center field, scoring Pardoe and bringing the score to 5-3 at the end of the fourth inning.
 
Loras held off Augustana in the bottom half of the fourth inning and tied the score back at five a side in the top of the fifth inning after Church reached base again on a walk with two outs, bringing up Luke Fennelly who put a single into center field to put runners on the corners, forcing Augustana to make a pitching change. With a new pitcher on the mound and Cullen at the plate, Fennelly moved to second on a wild pitch to put two runners in position for Cullen, who took advantage of the opportunity and brought both home on a two RBI double to right field.
 
In the top of the sixth inning, the Duhawks took the lead for the first time in the game as Wohlers reached base on a walk, followed by a single by Chris Costantino to put runners on first and third for Max McCallum. An RBI single to right field brought home Wohlers from third to see the Duhawks take a 6-5 lead. The lead was spoiled in the bottom half of the inning, however, as the Vikings tacked on another two runs to lead by one at 7-6 at the end of the sixth.
 
Wohlers led the eighth inning off by reaching first on a dropped third strike before moving to second on a Costantino sacrifice bunt. McCallum's discipline at the plate a batter later put two runners on base for Nelson Melon, who pinch hit for Joe Egan. With Melon at the plate, both runners moved on a steal and scored on an error by the catcher to tie the game back up at 7-7.
 
With the game on the line in the last inning of the game, the Duhawks took off with Fennelly leading off with a walk before moving up to second on a Cullen groundout. Fennelly then made it to third on a wild pitch before Rogers drove him home on an infield single and reaching second on a steal. Pardoe stepped into the batter's box and drove in Rogers from second on a single to center field to give the Duhawks a two-run edge midway through the inning before Jack Enright hit an RBI single of his own to score Pardoe. Freshman Michael Garrett drove in the Duhawks' fourth run of the inning on an RBI single to left field that scored Wohlers from second to bring the score to 11-7 with the Vikings having one more chance at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning. Augustana's comeback fell short in the bottom half of the inning, scoring one on a solo homerun to bring the score to its final 11-8.
 
Jeter threw 3.0 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits with two strikeouts before Dylan Ackermann was called in relief. Ackermann allowed two runs on no hits in 2.0 innings pitched, paving the way for Nick Dibenedetto to record his first win of the season on the mound as he threw 3.0 innings, striking out three and allowing two hits. Ethan Peters closed out the game on the mound, facing five batters in the bottom of the ninth inning, allowing one run on two hits with a pair of strikeouts.
 
The Duhawks tallied 13 hits in the game, led by Rogers who went 2-for-5 at the plate, driving in three runs. Cullen also recorded a pair of hits, notching the Duhawks' two doubles in the game with two RBIs while Pardoe had a triple in his 2-for-4 performance.
 
The second game of the day saw the Duhawks take on the Blue Boys from Illinois College, with Wohlers making the start on the mound for Loras. Illinois College held the Duhawks scoreless in the top of the first inning before taking the lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI triple to go ahead 1-0.
 
The score stayed unchanged until the top of the third inning as Costantino led the inning off with a single to center field before advancing to second on a ground out by McCallum. With Costantino in scoring position, Church smacked a double to left field, scoring Costanino and setting up another scoring opportunity for the Duhawks with Fennelly due up at the plate. Fennelly put the Duhawks in the lead at 2-1 with an RBI single to center field, scoring Church from second.
 
The Duhawks held onto the lead for four innings before the Blue Boys tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning on a ground out that scored a runner from third. The game stayed tied until the top of the ninth inning when the Duhawks again came back for the second time of the day with Cullen starting the inning off with a left field single before Rogers reached base after being hit by a pitch. With Pardoe at the plate, a wild pitch put Cullen and Rogers both in scoring position for Pardoe to drive in Cullen from third on an RBI infield single. Rogers crossed the plate a batter later on an Egan ground out to second base. Enright scored the third run in a row for the Duhawks after he reached on an error that scored Pardoe from third before Church drove in the fourth of the inning on a sacrifice fly to deep center field that scored Enright to seal the deal on the 6-2 comeback victory.
 
Wohlers recorded six strikeouts on the mound for the Duhawks, throwing 5.0 innings and allowing only one run on six hits before head coach Carl Tebon turned to Erik Edminster, who threw 2.0 innings and allowed one run on two hits. Julian Lopez picked up the win for Loras with an inning pitched, facing four batters and allowing only one hit before Peters closed out the game, striking out two of the three batters he faced.
 
Church led the Duhawks' offensively at the plate, going 2-for-4 on two doubles with two RBIs while Pardoe also had a 2-for-4 performance, driving in one.
 
The Duhawks are back in action on Tuesday, Mar. 1 as they head to Iowa City, Iowa to face a Big 10 opponent in the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 PM.