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

FULTON, Mo. (Mar. 6, 2022) - Opening the series on Saturday with a pair of non-conference victories, the Loras College baseball team (7-0, 0-0 A-R-C) continued their four-game road series against the Westminster College Blue Jays on Sunday in Fulton, Mo. The Duhawks secured their seventh win in a row after taking down the Blue Jays 4-2 in game one and dominating in game two, forcing the game to end in seven innings by the 10-run rule. 

The Duhawks got off to an immediate hot start in the top of the first inning in game one as Luke Fennelly reached first on a one-out single, going on to advance to third a batter later after Max Cullen hit a double. With two runners in scoring position, Daniel Rogers stepped up to the plate and hit a double that scored Fennelly and Cullen before going on to score a run of his own on a Chris Costantino RBI single to put Loras up 3-0 from the jump. 

Westminster got on the board first in the bottom of the second inning on an RBI double but the Duhawks continued to hold the lead and expand their lead to three runs in the top of the fourth inning as Fennelly scored his second run of the game to bring the score to 4-1 after four innings of play. 

The score remained unchanged until the bottom half of the fifth inning when the Blue Jays attemped a come back that fell short, scoring one more in the game to bring the score its final 4-2. 

Loras tallied a total of 11 hits in the seven inning game, led by Cullen who went 3-for-4 at the plate, scoring a run while Fennelly scored twice going 1-for-4 in the game. Costantino and Tyler Pransky tallied two hits each while Rogers drove in two of the Duhawks' three RBIs in the game. 

Ryan Wohlers got the start on the mound and threw 6.0 innings, allowing a pair of runs on six hits while striking out five before Ethan Peters grabbed his third save of the season, closing out the game in the final inning with a strikeout to his name. 

As was the story in the first game of the day, the Duhawks went to work again in the top half of the first inning with Fennelly leading the inning off with a double before advancing to third on a Dakota Church single. Church went on to steal second and put two runners in scoring position for Rogers, who tallied an RBI single to score Fennelly and put Church on second who went on to score on an infield groundout by Dylan Pardoe to put Loras up 2-0 after the first inning. 

The Duhawks tacked on three more runs in the third inning with Fennelly leading the inning off again, this time reaching base on a walk before stealing second. Church reached base after taking a ball to the body to put two runners on for Cullen, who grounded out and advanced both runners into scoring position on second and third. Rogers continued his dominant showing at the plate with a three-run homer a batter later, bringing the score to 5-0 at the end of the third. 

Church hit a homerun of his own in to lead off the top of the fifth inning to widen the Duhawks' lead to six runs after the fifth before adding another run in the top of the sixth. Costantino led the sixth inning off with a single that was followed by a single off the bat of Joe Egan. Both runners stole to put both runners in scoring position before Max McCallum grounded out to second base, scoring Costantino from third on the play to further extend the lead to seven runs at the end of the sixth. 

The game came to an end in the seventh inning as Cullen reached base with an out in the inning on a single before Rogers brought him around the bases on an RBI double. With Rogers on second, Pardoe hit a double of his own to trade places and score the ninth run of the game before Costantino put the 10-run rule into effect on an RBI single that scored Pardoe from second, securing the 10-0 victory and series sweep of the Blue Jays. 

Erik Edminster grabbed his second win of the season on the mound, throwing 6.0 innings, allowing only five hits with five strikeouts before Danny Hiemer came in to close the game out in the seventh inning.

Rogers was a force at the plate in the second game of the day, driving in five RBIs in his 3-for-4 outing. Church, Costantino and Egan added two hits apiece while Pardoe added two RBIs of his own as the Duhawks outhit the Blue Jays 12-6 in the game. 

The Duhawks are back in action as they head south to the Sunshine State to compete in the RussMat Central Florida Invitational. Their week in Florida kicks off on Mar. 9 as they take on Penn State Abington with first pitch scheduled for 3:00 PM at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.