Contact: Emily Adlfinger, Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7970

Apr. 5, 2022 – After 24 games on the road to start the season, the No. 18 Loras College baseball team (21-4, 5-4 A-R-C) finally had its chance to play at Petrakis Park on Wednesday, hosting the Central College Dutch (10-9, 1-8 A-R-C) for the final game of the series. Though the temperatures dropped as the night wore on and both teams battled sideways rain and sleet at points during the game, the bats were hot in a marathon matchup seeing 27 runs scored as the Dutch took a narrow 14-13 victory.

The Dutch opened the game with a three-run home run by Colton DeRocher to take the early lead but the Duhawks responded in the bottom of the first with four runs off a double by Max Cullen that scored Luke Fennelly and Cullen making his way home off a sacrifice fly by Dylan Pardoe. Daniel Rogers advanced to third on the play before being brought home by Joe Egan on a homerun to take a 4-3 lead. Loras kept it going in the second inning with Chris Constantino scoring off a bases-loaded walk that put Cullen on base and a double by Rogers scored both Max McCallum and Dakota Church to extend Loras' lead, 7-3 after two. Central tacked on another one-run home run in the third and saw the same happen in the fourth to pull within two runs before exploding in the top of the inning to put up eight runs, capped by another three-run home run for DeRocher as the Dutch pulled ahead 12-7.

The Duhawks tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth after Cullen hit a single hard past the shortstop into center field but a misplay in the outfield gave him and Fennelly time to round the bases as Fennelly scored from first and Cullen found himself on third in prime position with one out. Egan brought Cullen home with a double but the Duhawks still had work to do, trailing 12-9 heading into the fifth. Central added one more in the fifth before the Duhawks added one of their own as Constantino scored off a double by Church. Ryan Wohlers brought home Egan in the bottom of the sixth and scored later off a wild pitch, brining Loras within one run heading into the seventh. Cullen scored the tying run off a groundout to the short stop but the Dutch eked out one more run in the top of the eighth to pull ahead, 14-13 and both teams' defenses held firm in the ninth with no more runs scored.

Egan led the team with four RBIs and a home run while Cullen had a team-high three hits on five plate appearances. Nick DiBenedetto, Erik Edminster, Julian Lopez and Ethan Peters all saw action in the game and recorded two strikeouts apiece.

The Duhawks return to Petrakis on Saturday, Apr. 9 for the first two games of the series against Nebraska Wesleyan University. First pitch for game one is set for noon with the second game to follow. Loras closes out the series with the Prairie Wolves on Sunday, Apr. 10.