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

FULTON, Mo. (Mar. 5, 2022) - Riding high on the momentum of a 3-1 victory over the University of Iowa Hawkeyes that garnered national attention on Tuesday, the Loras College baseball team (5-0, 0-0 A-R-C) made the trip to Fulton, Mo. to kick off a four-game series against the Blue Jays from Westminster College (1-9, 0-0 SLIAC). The Duhawks secured their fifth straight win after taking the first two games of the series. 

The Blue Jays struck first in the bottom of the first inning on a solo homerun and held the lead until the top of the third inning when the Duhawks' bats ignited. Max McCallum led the inning off after reaching on an error by the center fielder and advanced to third on the play. With a runner in scoring position, Dakota Church stepped into the batter's box and hit an RBI single that brought McCallum home for the first run of the inning. With an out in the inning, Max Cullen and Daniel Rogers both reached base after being hit by pitches, loading the bases for Dylan Pardoe, who drive in two on a single that gave the Duhawks a 3-1 lead. Westminster closed the gap to just one run in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI single to bring the score to 3-2 after three innings of play. 

Loras grabbed another run back in the top half of the fourth inning, seeing Joe Egan reach base on a single with an out in the inning before McCallum recorded a single that put Egan on third. Egan then moved on to advance and score on an error by the right fielder to give the Duhawks a two-run lead at 4-2 at the end of the fourth inning. 

The score remained unchanged for two innings until the Duhawks widened their lead in the top of the sixth inning, tacking on five more runs. All runs scored with two outs in the inning, with the first coming as Egan was on third and McCallum was on first, seeing the pitcher balk to advance runners and score Egan. A wild pitch immediately followed to put McCallum on third, only to score on a dropped third strike play that put Luke Fennelly on first. With Cullen at the plate, Fennelly stole second and went on to score as Cullen reached base on a shortstop error, advancing to second on the play. Rogers stepped into the box with Cullen in scoring position and knocked him home on an RBI single before Westminster made a call to the bullpen for a new pitcher. With a new pitcher on the mound and Mitch Gruber in to pinch run for Rogers, a wild pitch put Gruber on second and then on to score on a Pardoe RBI doule to bring the score to it's final at 9-2. 

Nick DiBenedetto notched his second win on the mound, throwing 4.0 innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out three before Julian Lopez came in to close the game. Lopez threw 3.0 innings and struck out two, allowing no runs on four hits. 

Offensively, Pardoe paved the way to victory, going 2-for-4 at the plate and driving in three runs while Rogers added another two hits in the game, going 2-for-3 with an RBI to his name. 

In the second game of the day, Westminster again jumped out to the lead immediately in the bottom of the first inning on a two-run shot before taking a three-run lead on another homer in the bottom of the fourth inning. 

The Duhawks sparked their comeback in the top of the fifth inning as Ryan Wohlers led the inning off with a walk before Egan reached base on a single to put runners on the corners for McCallum, who brough Wohlers home with an RBI single of his own. Church advanced runners to second and third a batter later, grounding out to the pitcher to set up Fennelly to score Egan from third on a ground out to third. The third run of the inning scored in the form of a wild pitch that scored McCallum from third to tie the game at 3-3 after five innings of play. 

Loras took the lead for the first time in the game in the top half of the sixth inning as Egan hit a two-run homer before Westminster tied the game right back up in the bottom of the same inning on a pair of sacrifice flies. 

The Duhawks scored the game-winning run in the top of the sixth inning as Chris Costantino led the inning off with a single and advanced to second on a Wohlers infield ground out. Egan reached base a batter later on an error by the shortstop to put two runners on base for McCallum, who knocked in Costantino to secure the 6-5 victory. 

Matt Jeter got the start on the mound for the Duhawks, allowing five runs on five hits while striking out five in 6.0 innings. Danny Hiemer got the call in relief and put in 2.0 innings on the mount, allowing one hit with a pair of strikeouts before Ethan Peters tallied his second save of the season, throwing the final inning of the game and striking out one of the three batters he faced. 

Egan and McCallum led the Duhawks at the plate, both recorded two hits in the game and driving in two runs each while Fennelly added the fifth RBI of the game. 

The series continues on Sunday, Mar. 6 with first pitch scheduled for 11:00 AM in Fulton, Mo.