WAVERLY, Iowa – The Loras College baseball team (21-12 overall, 10-7 American Rivers Conference) dropped its doubleheader against Wartburg College (18-13, 8-9) Tuesday evening. The Purple and Gold got hot late but couldn't finish thecomeback in an11-6 loss in game one before falling, 8-3, in the second game.
 
Game One
The Knights struck first in the start of the twin bill, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Following a scoreless second inning, Nick DiBenedetto got the Duhawks on the board in the third after his single through the left side scored Max McCallum.

Wartburg responded with a two-RBI single up the middle in the bottom half of the frame to take a 5-1 lead. The Knights would go on to tack on three more in the fifth inning to extend the lead to seven.

The Purple and Gold wouldn't go down easy, though, as a wild pitch scored Jackson Cullen before Trevor Segraves would connect on a ball that grounded out to shortstop, allowing Alex Sandoval to score to make it an 8-3 game.

After a scoreless seventh inning, Loras would go on to plate an additional three runs in the eighth inning. Segraves' sacrifice fly to center field got things started before an RBI double by McCallum scored Jake Olszewski to trim the deficit to three.

Jack Carney made it a two score game with his RBI single up the middle, but that would be all that Loras could muster up the remainder of the game. The Knights would go on to plate three more over the eighth inning to close things out, 11-6 .

DiBenedetto led the way by going a perfect 3-for-3 in the batter's box with Carney and Cullen right behind at two hits apiece. Seagraves' two RBIs were a team-high, while McCallum and Cullen led the way with two runs scored, each.

Daniel Giusto started on the mound and threw 4.1 innings with three strikeouts. Aiden O'Hara (0.2 innings) and Will Moonan (3.0 innings) combined for the final three-plus frames, each having struck out a batter.

Game Two
The second game of the doubleheader started off much the same, as the Knights were able to strike first with a run in the first inning, followed by another in the third off a passed ball.

The Duhawks were able to respond with a three-run sixth inning that was ignited by three RBI singles by Cullen, DiBenedetto, and Carney to give the Loras the advantage.
Wartburg, however, would go on to knot things up in the seventh off a sacrifice fly to left field, before rattling off another five-consecutive runs in the eighth inning to put the game out of reach.

Cullen and Daniel Rogers led the way with two hits each. Vincent Constantino earned the starting nod and pitched five innings strong, giving up two runs while striking out four.
 
UP NEXT
The Duhawks will face a big test this weekend, as the program heads to Storm Lake, Iowa, to take on the (RV/30) Buena Vista University Beavers in a three-game series. Friday's single game gets underway at 6 p.m., followed by doubleheader action starting at 12 p.m. on Saturday. Entering today's play, BVU sits second in the conference standings with a 13-5 record in A-R-C play, with the Duhawks sitting one spot behind in third.