SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – Loras found themselves playing catch up throughout the contest and almost completed the comeback, however, Dominican stayed the course and defeated the Purple and Gold, 10-8.

Rainy conditions in the first inning helped the Stars, as the Duhawks issued five free passes. This allowed Dominican University (12-16, 4-10 NACC) to get out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first. In the second, they'd tack on one more as well.

For Loras (16-16, 6-10 A-R-C), the third inning finally saw some offensive production. Jackson Cullen got the Duhawks on the board, after he smoked a double to left, scoring Max McCallum and Trevor Segraves.

Unfortunately, the next two innings favored the Stars, as Dominican proceeded to push across three more runs, giving them their biggest lead of the evening, 7-2.
Loras again had an answer thanks to Cullen, who narrowly squeaked a home run inside the left-field foul pole, trimming the deficit down to three in the fifth.

In the following inning, Justin Gutierrez and Vince Polizzi found themselves on base, and the Duhawks subbed in their sophomore phenom Colin Kissane to pinch hit. The move paid off, as Kissane smacked a no-doubt homer to left-center field, and the Purple and Gold had knotted it up at seven a piece.

Loras had utilized three different pitchers before calling upon Danny Hiemer to try and keep the score tied. But the Stars' bats couldn't be slowed down by the prominent senior pitcher, as the bottom of the sixth saw Dominican plate three more runs.

Despite a late hit from Gutierrez trimming the deficit down to two, and a solid outing from senior pitcher Casey Kedzierski, it was not enough, and the Duhawks would drop their final contest before a much-needed break.

Find It Again
The task for the Purple and Gold now, after dropping their eleventh game in their last fifteen tries, is to utilize the Easter break to get healthy and reset. Loras is in the race still for the A-R-C tournament but will need to be good down the stretch to find a spot.

On Deck: The Duhawks return to Petrakis Park for their final two games at home against Luther College on Tuesday, April 22. Game one is set to begin at 3:30 p.m.