Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243
 
DECORAH, Iowa (Mar. 27, 2022) – After battling wintry weather and bitter cold temperatures in Friday's American Rivers Conference opener, the No. 15 Loras College baseball team (17-2, 1-2 A-R-C) met back up with the Norse from Luther College (9-6, 2-1 A-R-C) on Sunday to wrap up the three-game series. The Norse took game one in seven innings before the Duhawks came back and did the same in game two of the day, taking a commanding 17-2 victory for their first A-R-C win of the season.
 
The Norse struck early in the bottom half of the first inning on an RBI single before jumping ahead by nine after the third inning saw the conference foe put eight runs on the board to take a nine-run lead.
 
In the top of the fifth inning, senior infielder Dylan Pardoe led the inning off with a solo home run, scoring the Duhawks' lone run of the game before a four-run sixth inning for the Norse closed out the game in the seventh inning with a final score of 13-1.
 
Ryan Wohlers made the start on the mound in game one for Loras, tossing 3.0 innings with three strikeouts, allowing nine runs on seven hits before Dylan Ackermann dished the final 3.0 innings of the game. Ackermann racked up six strikeouts, allowing four runs on four hits.
 
At the plate, Max Cullen and Pardoe both went 2-for-3 with Pardoe hitting the Duhawks' only extra-base hit in the game on his solo homer in the fifth.
 
In the second game of the afternoon, the first inning fell quiet as neither side brought a run home but a lead-off solo home run off the bat of Luther's Gavin Scurr put the Norse ahead 1-0 after two innings of play.
 
The Norse held the lead until the top of the fourth inning as Chris Costantino drove a single into center field with an out in the inning to bring Wohlers to the plate. Wohlers smacked a homer of his own to give the Duhawks the lead at 2-1 after four.
 
The Duhawks pulled away in the top of the fifth inning, scoring eight runs on eight hits with Cullen getting things going with a lead-off single into right field before Daniel Rogers roped a double into center field to score Cullen from first and put a runner in scoring position. With an out in the inning and a runner on second, Costantino hit a single into right field that brought Rogers home, forcing Luther to make a pitching change. The change wasn't enough to hold off the Duhawks' attack as Wohlers cranked his second home two-run run of the day. With two outs in the inning, Max McCallum found the gap in right center field for a double before Luke Fennelly did the same, hitting a double to left field to trade places with McCallum on the base path. With Fennelly on second, Dakota Church stepped into the box and hit the Duhawks' third two-run homer of the game. Cullen reached first a batter later on a dropped third strike scenario before Rogers stepped back into the box and hit his second double of the inning to score Cullen from first and put the Duhawks up by nine at 10-1.
 
Luther added another run of their own to the board in the bottom of the fifth inning on a Noah Sebben solo home run, but it would be the last time the Norse scored as the Duhawks' bats stayed hot in the final two innings of the game. In the top of the sixth, Costantino led the inning off with a single to right field to bring Wohlers up who, again, hit a shot over the fence for his third home run of the game. Ahead by ten runs with an out on the side, McCallum hit an infield single to second base and made his way to second on a passed ball with Fennelly at the plate. Fennelly's plate discipline saw him draw a walk before Church was hit by a pitch to load the bases. With two outs in the inning, Rogers hit a single that scored McCallum and Fennelly and put Church on third with Pardoe due at the plate. Church came around to score on a Pardoe single into center field to bring the score to 15-2.
 
The Duhawks tacked on another pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning as Wohlers led the inning off with a walk before McCallum joined him on base after hitting a single into left center field. With two outs in the inning, Church roped a single into deep center field to score Wohlers and put runners on the corners for Cullen, who brought home McCallum on an RBI double to bring the score to its final at 17-2.
 
Davis Pasco started on the mound for Loras and threw 5.0 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts to his name before Julian Lopez made an appearance in relief. Lopez faced four batters in his inning of work, striking out three of the four he faced before Ethan Peters closed the game out, striking out two of the four batters he saw to secure the victory.
 
The Duhawks' offense was dominant in the game, recording a staggering 22 hits in the game to the Norse's eight, led by Wohlers who recorded three hits, each of them two-run homers to tally six RBIs on the day. Rogers added four RBIs of his own with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate while Church and McCallum each went 4-fo4-5 with Church hitting a home run of his own and driving in three RBIs in the game.
 
Conference action continues for Loras on Tuesday, Mar. 29 as they travel to Pella, Iowa to face the Central College Dutch in an A-R-C doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 PM with the second game immediately to follow.