DUBUQUE, Iowa (April 5, 2023) – Loras College baseball did something it hadn't done since 2015 on Wednesday afternoon, and that was take both games of a doubleheader against crosstown rival University of Dubuque.

The Duahwks (15-9, 6-4 A-R-C) guaranteed themselves a series win over the Spartans (15-5, 5-4 A-R-C) with wins of 8-3 and 7-6 (F/12) on Wednesday at Dubuque's Dan W. Runkle Baseball Field. The two sides will play just once more this regular season when Loras hosts a single game on Tuesday, April 18, at 6 P.M. at Petrakis Park.

Loras 8, Dubuque 3
The Duhawks made sure to seize their opportunities in game one as they took an early 3-0 lead in the second inning. Three errors by the Spartans were accompanied by a hit from freshman Cody Sunny and an RBI knock for senior Tyler Pransky.

Loras added one more in the top of the fifth as sophomore Max McCallum kept the inning alive with a single and then stole second before coming home on an RBI double from Max Cullen. That theme of two-out production continued in the sixth as a Dubuque error kept the inning alive.

After senior Ryan Wohlers was hit by a pitch and senior Mitch Gruber flipped the lineup with an RBI single, McCallum belted a three-run homer to send the Duhawks to an 8-0 lead with all four runs in that frame being unearned.

That would be the end of Loras' offensive production as just one of its eight runs would be counted as earned.

Dubuque tried to stay close with a pair of runs of its own in the bottom of the sixth and one more in the seventh, but it wasn't enough to mount a comeback. Senior reliever Matt Jeter tossed three innings and earned the win after exiting the game at the end of the sixth inning. Jeter gave way to freshman TJ Boyd, who tossed the final three frames to earn his third save of the year.

Loras 7, Dubuque 6 (F/12)
Game two was a back-and-forth affair as Loras again took an early lead, but had to score late in order to force extra innings. McCallum was a one-man show again in this one as he put the Duhawks on the board in the second inning with an RBI double, then launched his second homer of the day in the third inning as a two-run shot put the Duhawks up 3-0.

The Spartans got one back in the fifth inning before McCallum made things happen again in the sixth as his one-out single was followed by a double for Max Cullen that moved McCallum to third. The sophomore then scored on a sac fly from junior Daniel Rogers that made it 4-1.

All four runs were necessary for Loras as Dubuque knotted things up in the bottom half of the inning when four hits plated three runs in the frame. Junior Nick DiBenedetto gunned down the would-be tying run at home to end the inning and keep things tied at 4-4.

After being on the receiving end of DiBenedetto's throw, senior catcher Dakota Church came up in the next half inning and belted his second home run of the season to put Loras back ahead 5-4, but things nearly came unraveled in the bottom of the eighth when a two-out, two-RBI double from the Spartans made it 6-5 in their favor.

With a leadoff walk from Pranksy in the ninth, Loras played small ball and used a sac bunt to move him to second, where he ultimately scored the tying run from on freshman Jackson Cullen's RBI single up the middle.

After surrendering those two runs in the eighth, Duhawk reliever Ethan Peters kept his team in contention with four more shutout innings, including three in extras. Loras finally broke the tie in the top of the 12^th when Rogers doubled home the elder Cullen to make it 7-6. Peters finished things off in the bottom half as he worked around a double and a walk to earn his team a sweep and himself a 3-0 record so far in 2023.

Loras is back at it tomorrow, Thursday April 6, with a single game on the road at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at 3 P.M.