Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243
 
May 1, 2022 – After weather forced a number of reschedules to the series, the RV Loras College baseball team (28-8, 12-8 A-R-C) took advantage of a break in the weather to play host to the Wartburg College Knights (21-16, 11-9 A-R-C) in an American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) rivalry matchup. The Duhawks earned a comeback victory in game one of the day, thanks to a four-run sixth inning that was sparked by a two-run shot by Nick DiBenedetto that tied the game before Max Cullen had his turn to play the hero in game two, securing the Duhawks' second win of the day with a walk-off two-out RBI single.
 
Wind blowing straight out to center field was a batter's best friend on Sunday as the Knights took an early 4-0 lead in the top of the first on a two-run home run and a two-run triple before the Duhawks bats heated up in the bottom half of the inning. Luke Fennelly led the charge with a lead-off home run over the wall in left field before Daniel Rogers took advantage of two runners on the base path, knocking in Max McCallum on an RBI single into right field. With an out on the side and runners in scoring position, Joe Egan pulled the Duhawks back within one at 4-3 on an RBI single up the middle that brought home Cullen.
 
Balls continued to leave the yard in the top of the third inning as Wartburg widened their lead to three runs on their second two-run home run of the game.
 
The score remained unchanged until the bottom of the fifth inning as Loras clawed their way back as Fennelly stayed hot and reached base on a left field single with one out on the side. A wild pitch saw Fennelly move on to third before McCallum joined on the base path by drawing a walk. Cullen followed by doing the same, showing plate discipline with a full count and drawing a walk to load the bases for Rogers, who brought home Fennelly as he reached base on an infielder error, cutting the Knights' lead to two at 6-4 at the end of the fifth.
 
An inning later, the Duhawks came alive as Ryan Wohlers led the inning off with a double into the gap in left center, paving the way for DiBenedetto to blast a shot to left center to tie the game at six a side. With no outs in the inning still, Dakota Church hit a single up the middle, followed by a walk for Fennelly, put two runners on for McCallum. A fielder's choice saw Church thrown out on third while moving Fennelly to second before Cullen loaded the bases on a single to center field. With two outs in the inning, a wild pitch saw runners on the move, scoring Fennelly on the play before Dylan Pardoe drew a walk of his own to load the bases for Egan. Wartburg's pitching woes continued late in the inning as Egan had his turn to draw a walk, scoring McCallum on the play to take the game with a final score of 8-6.
 
The Duhawks outhit the Knights 10-7 in the game, led by Fennelly who went 2-for-3 at the plate with a home run while Rogers, Egan and DiBenedetto tallied two RBIs apiece.
 
Matt Jeter got the start on the mound and tossed 3.0 innings, allowing six runs on seven hits while striking out three before Curtis Lilienthal made a relief appearance and shut down the Knights' scoring efforts, throwing 3.0 innings of hitless ball while keeping the Knights off the board. Career saves leader Ethan Peters added another to his record, recording his 12th save of the season, throwing 3.0 innings, allowing no runs or hits with two strikeouts.
 
In the second game of the afternoon, the Duhawks picked right up where they left off, running up 8-0 lead after three innings. The first inning saw four of those eight runs cross home as McCallum got the momentum going with a one-out single into left, bringing up Cullen who reached on a walk. Rogers loaded the bases with a single into the gap in right center before Pardoe knocked in two on a fielder's choice that scored McCallum and Cullen, who came home on a bad throw by the second baseman. Egan brought in another run on a deep ball to center field for a triple, paving the way for an easy RBI base knock for Wohlers to give the Duhawks an immediate 4-0 lead.
 
Two more runs scored in the bottom of the second as Fennelly led the inning off with a triple of his own on the first pitch of his at-bat before McCallum hit copy and paste and did the same a batter later, bringing home Fennelly on the play. Cullen racked up another extra-base hit for the Duhawks, scoring McCallum on an RBI double into the gap in right center to catapult the Duhawks to a six-run lead.
 
With an out in the bottom of the third, DiBenedetto reached on a shortstop throwing error and went on to steal second with Church at the plate, who hit the Duhawks' fourth triple thus far in the game to bring in DiBenedetto. The Duhawks' eighth unanswered run came by way of a sacrifice fly off the bat of Fennelly that knocked in Church as the Duhawks gained an early 8-0 lead.
 
Wartburg's comeback was a steady one as they put their first runs of the game on the board in the top of the fourth inning a three-run homer before the Duhawks answered in the bottom half of the same inning with a solo home run of their own off the bat of Rogers to lead the inning off. A batter later, Pardoe drew a walk and made his way to second on a wild pitch before moving on to third on a Wohlers sacrifice fly out. With two outs in the inning and a runner on third, DiBenedetto continued to dominate inside the box, roping a double into left center field to see the Duhawks take another wide seven-run lead at the end of the fourth.
 
The Knights continued to ride their momentum into the sixth inning, scoring four unanswered runs in the fifth inning before tacking on another in the top of the sixth to come back within two at 10-8 in the final stages of the game.
 
With a new pitcher on the mound for the Knights, the Duhawks led the bottom of the sixth off with back-to-back ground outs to shortstop, only to pave the way for Egan to rope a shot over the wall in right center to pull away by three at the end of the sixth at 11-8.
 
The seventh inning saw the Knights tie the game back up on a lead-off home run to deep center field and an RBI single as their bats came alive in the seventh inning.
 
The score remained deadlocked through the bottom of the ninth as the Duhawks quieted the Knights' offensive efforts. DiBenedetto led the Duhawks off in the final inning of a game being hit by a pitch before back-to-back fly outs saw the Duhawks have to work extra for the victory. McCallum hit a single up the middle of the infield to put two runners on with DiBenedetto in scoring position. Cullen stepped into the box and took advantage of the stage that was set for him and hit a blooper into right field to bring home DiBenedetto and walk the game off with a final score of 12-11.
 
Both teams came together for 25 hits in the game with the Duhawks hitting 13. Five of the game's hits were home runs with three of those coming from Wartburg slugger Ben DeKruyf, who had seven RBIs in the game. Eight of the Duhawks' 13 hits were extra-base hits with two doubles, four triples and two homers, led at the plate by McCallum who went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Cullen and Egan both went 2-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs each while seven Duhawks tallied an RBI apiece.
 
Davis Pasco got the start and threw 4.1 innings, allowing six runs on five hits with four strikeouts before Julian Lopez and Erik Edminster both came in to dish 0.2 innings of relief, each allowing a run on a hit with a strikeout to their names. Peters came in to close the game out, allowing three runs on five with while fanning seven to earn his first win of the season.
 
The Duhawks are slated to meet back up with the Knights on Monday, May 2 as they look to sweep the series. The game has been pushed up two hours from its original start time, seeing the new game time kick off at 4:00 PM at Petrakis Park.