Feb. 27, 2023 – It didn't take long for the Loras College baseball team to get into midseason form as the Duhawks started out their 2023 campaign with a 4-0 weekend in Jacksonville, Ill. The Duhawks (4-0) earned two victories on each Saturday and Sunday and scored double-digit runs in three of their four contests.

Loras 17, St. Norbert 7 (F/7)
Loras wasted no time in getting the bats going in their game one win over St. Norbert College. The Duhawks scored twice in the first inning, then piled on seven runs in the second inning to take a commanding lead. While the Green Knights hung seven total runs on the Duhawks, it wasn't enough after a six-run fifth inning helped Loras pull away and finish the game off with a 17-7 win in seven innings.

Sophomore designated hitter Justin Gutierrez went 3-for-4 at the plate from the eighth spot in the batting order and tallied two RBIs. Graduate student third baseman Ryan Wohlers went 2-for-4 with three RBIs while sophomore centerfielder Max McCallum scored four runs out of the leadoff spot.

Loras 14, Elmhurst 4 (F/8)
The Duhawks were the home team versus Elmhurst University on Saturday and again ended the game early after scoring in all but one of the eight innings played. The Bluejays scored a pair of runs on an RBI double in the top of the first, but the Duhawks responded with two of their own in the bottom of the frame. They then scored three more runs in each the third, fourth, and seventh innings to pull away for a 14-4 win.

Eight of Loras' nine starting hitters tallied at least one hit as the team racked up 20 total. Wholers, McCallum, graduate student catcher Dakota Church, and junior rightfielder Nick DiBenedetto each had three hits while Wohlers again led the way with six RBIs, thanks partly to two home runs.

Loras 7, IC 4 (Game 1)
Sunday's doubleheader at Illinois College was much more competitive for the Duhawks as they had to grind out a win in game one. The Blueboys twice duplicated the Duhawk offense as Loras scored one run in the first inning and then two in the third inning, only for IC to do the same in the bottom halves of those frames.

The turning point came in the fifth inning when RBI hits from senior DH Tyler Pransky and freshman shortstop Alex Sandoval plated a pair of runs to put the Duhawks up 5-3. An RBI single for DiBenedetto in the top of the sixth increased the lead to three, which helped protect his own lead as he came on to pitch in the sixth and seventh innings.

The team's each added one more run in the game, but the Blueboys managed nothing against Loras' graduate student closer Ethan Peters, who completed his first save of 2023 with six strikeouts in his 2.0 innings pitched to finish the game.

Loras 12, IC 7 (Game 2)
The Duhawks started out strong in their final game of the weekend as they built a 7-2 lead through three and a half innings, but a four-spot for the Blueboys brought them to within one at the end of the fourth inning before another run in the fifth tied things up at 7-7.

Starting with a relief appearance in the bottom of the fifth, Duhawk pitchers TJ Boyd, Wohlers, and Jack Carr combined to allow just three Blueboy hits over the final four innings, which gave the offense a chance to break things open in the eighth inning. The Duhawks scored four runs in the eighth with three walks, two hits, and one IC error to take an 11-7 lead before adding one more insurance run in the ninth to finish out the sweep.

The 1-2-3 hitters of McCallum, Church, and senior first baseman Max Cullen combined to go 7-for-14 at the plate with five runs and five RBIs to lead the way.

Loras hits the road again Tuesday, Feb. 28, to take on a Division I opponent in the University of Iowa at 4:05 P.M. at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes are 5-1 so far this season with a win over No. 1 Louisiana State University on Saturday in Round Rock, Texas. Loras won this matchup 3-1 last season.