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

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (Mar. 19, 2022) - After coming in at No. 22 in the D3baseball.com national rankings this week, the Loras College baseball team (15-0, 0-0 A-R-C) made their way back to Iowa after a week long trip to Florida where they competed in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. In their first series back, the Duhawks took on the Rams from Cornell College (3-7, 0-0 Midwest), seeing the Duhawks take game one 12-5 before dominating the second game, scoring a staggering 23 runs in the seven inning game. 

After a scoreless first inning in game one, the Rams got on the board first in the bottom half of the second inning after a lead-off double put a runner in scoring position to later come around on an RBI single to left field to put Cornell up 1-0.
 
The lead was short lived, though, as the Duhawks scored three in the top of the third inning. With two outs to begin the inning, Max McCallum laid down a bunt to reach first before moving to third on a single off the bat of Luke Fennelly. With runners on the corners, Dakota Church reached on a fielding error by the right fielder, a costly error that scored McCallum and Fennelly and put Church on second with Max Cullen due at the plate. Cullen hit a hard single to the shortstop, advancing Church to third and putting runners on the corners again, this time for Daniel Rogers who brought home Church on an RBI single to right field to put Loras in the lead at 3-1 at the end of the third.
 
The Duhawks tacked on another four runs in the top of the fourth inning as Ryan Wohlers roped a single into right field with an out in the inning before stealing second with Joe Egan at the plate. Egan brought around Wohlers from second on an RBI single into center field for the first run of the inning. A batter later, McCallum tallied a double into left field to put two runners in scoring position for Fennelly, who doubled down the left field line to score both runners and extend the Duhawks lead to 6-1 with still only one out in the inning. Church followed by taking a pitch off the body to put two runners on base for Rogers, who again capitalized on the chance to bring home runs as he hit a single to third base, scoring Fennelly at bringing the score to 7-1 before Cornell scored one back in the bottom half of the fourth.
 
The score remained unchanged until the Rams brought home two more runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit to three runs but the Duhawks pulled away once more in the top half of the seventh. Rogers led the inning off with a single into left field before Dylan Pardoe followed suit with a single of his own to put two runners on for Chris Costantino, who loaded the bases after reaching on an error as he laid down a sacrifice bunt. With an out in the inning and bases loaded, Egan roped a single into left field to score Rogers and Pardoe and putting runners on first and second for McCallum, who loaded the bases once again after reaching on a bunt. Fennelly drove a single into left field with bases loaded and scored Costantino on the play before Church scored the last two runs of the game for the Duhawks on an RBI single into the gap in right center to bring the score to 12-4 before Cornell attempted a comeback in the bottom of the seventh that fell short, bringing the score to its final at 12-5.
 
Fennelly and Egan led the Duhawks' bats with three hits apiece in the game while driving in three RBIs each. Church and Rogers also knocked in a pair of runs as the Duhawks hit a solid 19 hits in the game while committing zero fielding errors to the Rams' three.
 
On the mound, Nick DiBenedetto got the start on the mound and threw 4.0 innings, allowing two runs on six hits with a trio of strikeouts before Julian Lopez came in at relief. Lopez dished 2.0 innings and allowed a pair of runs on four hits with three strikeouts before head coach Carl Tebon turned to Danny Hiemer, who allowed a run on two hits with two strikeouts in his inning of action. Dylan Ackermann closed the game out with a 2.0 inning performance on the mound, striking out five of the nine batters he faced.
 
Game two of the day saw neither side score through the first two innings before the Duhawks' scoring barrage began in the top of the third inning. McCallum started the inning off with a leadoff single down the right field line before advancing to third on a Church single with one out in the inning. A batter later, Cullen reached on a fielder's choice that brought home McCallum and put runners on the corners with Rogers due at the plate. Rogers drew a walk to load the bases for Pardoe, who brought home Church on a sacrifice fly out to right field before Costantino lined a double down the right field line to bring Cullen and Rogers across the plate to bring the score to 4-0 after three innings of play.
 
An inning later, the Duhawks brought home five more runs as McCallum reached first on a fielding error by the second baseman to put a runner on base with an out in the inning. Fennelly popped out to the catcher for the second out of the inning, but the Duhawks bats were just getting started as Church put two runners on base on a single to left field before a wild pitch moved runners both into scoring position on second and third. Cullen brought both runners home on an RBI single into the gap in right center before sealing second with Rogers at the plate. Rogers drew a walk with Cullen taking third on a wild pitch that was called for the fourth ball before Pardoe roped a triple into right center field to score Cullen and Rogers and extend the Duhawks' lead to eight runs. A batter later, Costantino brought home Pardoe from third with an RBI single of his own to bring the score to 9-0 at the end of the fourth.
 
The Duhawks caught fire two innings later in the top half of the sixth inning as Church led the inning off with a walk before Cullen reached base a batter later on an infielder error. With two runners on, Rogers hit a single into left field that scored Church from second before Costantino brought in Cullen on an RBI single of his own. With an out in the inning, Jack Enright poked a single into center field that scored Rogers before an error by the center fielder put both Enright and Costantino in scoring position on second and third, respectively. With the score at 12-0, the Rams made a call to the bullpen for a new pitcher, but the change didn't slow Egan down as he hit a triple into right field that scored Enright and Constantino before McCallum put runners on the corners after wearing a pitch. With Tyler Pransky at the plate for Fennelly, a wild pitch advanced the runners, putting McCallum on second and Egan across home for the 15th run of the game before Pransky drew a walk to put two runners on base for Justin Gutierrez, who came in to hit for Church. Gutierrez hit a shot into center field to score McCallum from second and put two runners on base for Cullen who flied out to right field and advanced Pransky to third on the play. Rogers took a pitch off the body a batter later and loaded the bases for Mitch Gruber, who came in to hit for Pardoe. Gruber hit a single into center field that scored Gutierrez and Pransky before Jack Carney loaded the bases after he was hit by a pitch. With another pitcher on the mound for the Rams, Nelson Melon pinch hit for Enright and reached base on a fielding error by the first baseman to bring home Gruber and Rogers, scoring the 20th run of the game. Carney came around to score on a wild pitch with Michael Garrett at the plate before Garrett tripled to right center to bring around Melon. John Cornelius came in to pinch hit for McCallum and with Cornelius at the plate, a wild pitch saw Garrett score and end the game in seven innings by an astounding 23-0 final score.
 
The Duhawks rifled off 26 hits in the game to the Rams' five as Costantino led the Duhawks' offensive efforts, going 3-for-4 on the day with four RBIs to his name. Two Duhawks in Pardoe and Cullen knocked in three RBIs each as the Duhawks hit five extra-base hits and stole two bases in the game with zero fielding errors to Cornell's six.
 
Wohlers picked up the win on the mound, putting in 5.0 innings of shutout ball, allowing no runs on four hits with five strikeouts before Erik Edminster closed the game out, dishing the final 2.0 innings, allowing only one hit with four strikeouts.
 
The two teams will meet back up on Sunday, Mar. 20 in Mount Vernon, Iowa for the final game of the three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 PM.