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

DAVENPORT, Fla. (Mar. 13, 2022) - After a well-earned Saturday off from competition in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational, the RV Loras College baseball team (12-0, 0-0 A-R-C) was back to work on Sunday morning as they took on the Plattsburg State Cardinals (3-4, 0-0 SUNYAC) in an early morning doubleheader. Junior pitcher Matt Jeter led the Duhawks to a 5-0 victory in game one, throwing a complete game shutout before the Duhawks' bats caught fire in game two, winning 11-3 to extend their win streak to 12 games to open the season. 

The first run of the first game came in the top of the first inning as Luke Fennelly led the game off with a left field double before advancing to third a batter later as Dakota Church reached on an infield error. Fennelly went on to score on a Max Cullen groundout to give Loras an immediate 1-0 lead. 

Another run crossed the plate for Loras in the second inning as Justin Gutierrez reached on an error to bring Joe Egan to the plate. Egan wore a pitch and put two runners on base for Max McCallum, who reached on a fielder's choice that retired Egan as he advanced to second. With two outs in the inning and runners on the corners, Church put a single into center field to bring Gutierrez across the plate and extend the lead to 2-0 after two innings of play. 

After a pair of scoreless innings, the Duhawks further widened their lead in the fifth inning as Cullen led the inning off with an infield single before advancing to second on a Daniel Rogers ground out. Dylan Pardoe brought Cullen home from second with an RBI single up the middle for the third run of the game. 

In the top of the sixth inning, Fennelly reached first after being hit by a pitch to bring Church to the plate, who also walked to put two runners on the base path for Cullen. Runners advanced to second and third on a Cullen sacrifice bunt before Rogers brought both home with an RBI single up the middle to bring the score to the final 5-0. 

Jeter struck out four batters in 7.0 innings on the mound, allowing five no runs on six hits with just one walk. Offensively, Fennelly and Egan both went 2-for-3 at the plate with Rogers driving in two runs while Church, Cullen and Pardoe had an RBI each. 

With the teams switching home and away sides in the second game of the doubleheader, the Duhawks tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom half of the first inning, picking up where they left off in game one. Fennelly got things going with a lead off single to right field before stealing second with Church at the plate. After drawing a walk, Church put two runners on the base path for Cullen, with a passed ball advancing both runners into scoring position in the at-bat. Cullen hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Fennelly from third and advancing Church to third for Rogers to drive in on an RBI single into the outfield to give the Duhawks an immediate 2-0 lead. 

The score remained unchanged before the Cardinals cut the deficit to one in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI single but the Duhawks quickly widened the lead in the bottom of the same inning. Jack Enright led the inning off with a double into right field before coming around to score a batter later as McCallum reached on an infielder error and advanced to second on the play. Fennelly then hit a double into the outfield to bring home McCallum before he stole third with Church at the plate. Church lined a double of his own into right field to bring Fennelly across the plate for the third run of the inning before advancing to third a batter later on a Cullen groundout. Rogers poked a single into left field to score Church from third and advanced to third on a wild pitch with Pardoe at the plate. Pardoe drew a walk to put two runners on base for Gutierrez, who hit a single through the right side of the infield to load the bases for Michael Garrett, who came in to pinch hit for Enright. Garrett reached on an error, a costly error by the Cardinals, as two runs scored on the play  to put the Duhawks up 8-1 after five. 

The Duhawks extended their lead to 10 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning as Church drew a walk with one out in the inning. Cullen then took a pitch off the body to bring Rogers up to the plate, who also walked to load the bases for Pardoe to drive in on a ground out. Gruber then knocked in Rogers and Cullen on a single up the middle to bring the score to 11-1 with an inning left to play. 

The Cardinals tried to spark a late-inning comeback but the effort fell short, seeing them score two more in the top of the seventh inning on a triple that scored two, but the Duhawks held off to win their 12th game in a row, 11-3. 

Wohlers picked up his second win of the season, getting the start on the mound and throwing 6.0 innings, allowing only one run on two hits with eight strikeouts to his name. Austin Jones came in to close out the game in the seventh inning, allowing a pair of runs on two hits with a strikeout. 

At the plate, Fennelly and Rogers had two hits apiece with Garrett, Gruber and Rogers driving in two RBIs each in the game. Five Duhawks in Fennelly, Church, Cullen, Pardoe and McCallum tallied one RBI in the game. 

The Duhawks wrap up their week of action in the Sunshine State on Monday, Mar. 14 as they take on Colby-Sawyer College. First pitch is scheduled for 10:00 AM ET.