CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The Loras College baseball team fell 5-4 to Buena Vista University on Saturday afternoon in the American Rivers Conference AQ Tournament semifinal game at Veterans Memorial Park, ending the team's quest to capturing a second-consecutive tournament championship and the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Buena Vista struck first as a lead off triple in the third inning set up an RBI groundout for the game's first run. Back-to-back walks put Loras in jeopardy, but Daniel Giusto got the Duhawks out of the inning after forcing BVU into a double play.

The Duhawks (25-18 overall) were able to plate two at the top of the fifth to take its first lead of the game. The inning started with Trevor Segraves reaching base via a walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt by Max McCallum to advance Segraves to second. Jackson Cullen then was the beneficiary of a walk before singles to left field by Daniel Rogers and Cody Sunny scored Segraves and Cullen, giving the Purple and Gold the 2-1 advantage.

The Beavers (29-13) scored an equalizing run in the bottom half of the inning, but the tie didn't last long as McCallum's single up the middle in the sixth frame scored Jake Olszewski to put Loras back on top. The lead was extended to 4-2 in the seventh after a slew of errors by Buena Vista gave way for Rogers to cross the plate.

The Beavers came back in the bottom of the seventh, however, scoring three runs to take the lead before holding off the Duhawks with a final score of 5-4.

Giusto dished 4.0 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with three strikeouts before Adam Williamson came in to relieve. Williamson threw 2.1 innings, striking out two while allowing three hits. Andrew Krause finished the final 1.2 innings of the game, where he struck out two. Rogers led the way at the plate in his finale, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and one run scored.

With an at-large bid up in the air, the Duhawks will now learn their fate in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship show on Monday, May 13.