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

Mar. 10, 2022 - Receiving votes in the latest installment of the D3Baseball.com Top-25 rankings with their best start to a season under head coach Carl Tebon, the Loras College baseball team (9-0, 0-0 A-R-C) picked up their ninth win of the season after opening play in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational with a pair of wins over Penn State-Abington (5-4, 0-0 UEC) and Anna Maria College (4-3, 0-0 GNAC). Freshman pitcher Danny Hiemer paved the path to victory, leading the Duhawks on the mound with 6.3 innings pitched between the two games, tallying five strikeouts against Anna Maria for his third win of the season.

The first game of the trip down south featured the Duhawks and the Nittany Lions on Wednesday, Mar. 9 that saw the Duhawks get off to an immediate 1-0 lead as Luke Fennelly led the inning off with a triple to deep center field before coming across the plate a batter later as Dakota Church knocked the run in on a sacrifice fly out to center field. The Duhawks put another two runs on the board an inning later as Chris Costantino drew a walk to lead off the inning, advancing to second on a wild pitch with Ryan Wohlers at the plate. With an out in the inning, Joe Egan hit a single that scored Costantino from second before Egan took second on the play and advanced to third a batter later on a passed ball. Max McCallum put runners on the corners with Fennelly due back up at the plate, who drove in Egan from third on a sacrifice fly to bring the score to 3-0 after two innings of play. 

Abington scored their first runs of the game in the top of the fourth inning to cut the deficit to just one run, bringing the score to 3-2 before the Duhawks responded by scoring another two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Wohlers reached base on a walk before Egan wore a pitch to put two runners on the base path for McCallum, who moved the runners into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. With an out in the inning and runners on second and third, Fennelly drew a walk to load the bases before runners moved on a wild pitch, bringing home Wohlers from third. Church kept the bases loaded with a walk of his own, forcing Abington to make a call to the bullpen but the move didn't keep the Duhawks from scoring, as Max Cullen reached base on an infield error that scored Fennelly from third to bring the score to 5-2 at the midway point of the game. 

A three-run homer by Abington's Tim Petrucelli tied the game back up at five a side in the top of the fifth inning before they tacked on another run in the sixth inning, taking the lead for the first time of the game at 6-5 going into the bottom half of the sixth where the Duhawks immediately grabbed the lead back. McCallum kicked the inning off with a center field single before moving on to second on a Church ground out. With two outs in the inning and a runner in scoring position, Cullen knocked home McCallum with an RBI single to left field, going on to steal second a batter later. Two straight walks drawn by Daniel Rogers and Dylan Pardoe loaded the bases for Costantino, who drove a single into the outfield to score Rogers and Cullen to take a two-run lead at 8-6. 

The Nittany Lions continued to fight on in the top of the seventh inning, scoring another run on a sacrifice fly to come back within one but the Duhawks brought the score to its final in the bottom of the inning as McCallum reached on an infielder error and stole second with Church at the plate. Church brought McCallum around the bases on an RBI single to right field to solidify the 9-7 victory. 

D3Baseball.com and American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Player of the Week Davis Pasco got the start on the mound and threw 4.0 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits with three strikeouts before Nick DiBenedetto came in for 1.1 innings of relief. DiBenedetto allowed a run on four hits before Danny Hiemer came in and picked up his second win of the season, putting in 1.1 innings on the mound, allowing one run on one hit. Julian Lopez was the fourth pitcher in the game for the Duhawks, putting in an inning of work, allowing only one hit before Ethan Peters came in to close the game out, throwing 1.1 innings and striking out all four of the batters he faced to grab his fourth save of the season. 

At the plate, the Duhawks were led by Cullen, who went 2-for-5 with two RBIs while Costantino and Church both went 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs apiece. 

In the second game of the trip, the Duhawks squared off against the Amcats from Anna Maria College and jumped ahead by four from the get-go, as Fennelly led the game off with a single in the top of the first inning. A batter later, Church took a pitch off the body to put two runners on base for Cullen, who brought home Fennelly from second with an RBI double to right field before A-R-C Player of the Week Rogers hit an RBI single to left field to score Church. With an out in the inning and two runners on, Costantino brought home Rogers and Cullen with a single to right field to bring the score to 4-0 right out of the gate. 

The Amcats scored a pair of runs back in the bottom of the second inning on a bases loaded groundout and an RBI single and came within one of the Duhawks, scoring their third unanswered run of the game in the bottom of the fourth in an RBI single. 

The Duhawks pulled away in the top of the fifth inning, scoring six runs in the inning on just two hits as Cullen led the inning off with a single to bring Rogers to the plate, who reached after being hit by a pitch. Pardoe followed by reaching on a fielder's choice that saw Rogers be retired on his way to second and put runners on the corners for Costantino. Pardoe made his way to second and Cullen came home to score on a passed ball before Costantino joined Pardoe on the base path by drawing a walk. Wohlers' discipline at the plate saw him draw a walk and load the bases before the Duhawks tacked on five runs with two outs in the inning. Another passed ball advanced runners, scoring Pardoe on the play before McCallum knocked in Wohlers and Constantino on an RBI single before taking second with Fennelly at the plate. Fennelly drew a walk to put two runners on for Church, who reached on an error that drove home Fennelly and McCallum on the play to bring the score to 10-3. In the bottom half of the inning, Anna Maria scored their fourth run of the game on a groundout that scored the runner from third. 

Loras widened their lead further in the top of the sixth inning as Rogers, Pardoe and Costantino all reached on walks with an out in the inning before Wohlers took a ball off the body to walk in Rogers from third and forcing Anna Maria to make a pitching change. With a new pitcher on the mound, Egan drove a single to right field that scored Pardoe and Costantino to bring the sscore to 13-4 after six innings of play. 

Anna Maria attempted a comeback in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring one on a solo home run to right field but the effort fell short as the Duhawks walked away with a dominant 13-5 win. 

Dylan Ackermann made the start on the mound and threw 3.1 innings, allowing three runs on four hits with a pair of strikeouts to his name before Tebon turned to Hiemer. Throwing in his second game in as many days, Hiemer tossed 5.2 innings, racking up 5 strikeouts while allowing only two runs on five hits to grab another win on the season. 

Offensively, Cullen continued to produce with a 3-for-5 showing at the plate with a double and an RBI in the game. Costantino, Egan and McCallum each drove in two runs and tallied a hit in the game. 

The Duhawks continue play in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational on Friday, Mar. 11 as they take on the Johnson & Wales University Wildcats. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM (ET).