Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 DUBUQUE, Iowa – Loras College took both games of the doubleheader on Monday (March 25) to earn the series win over Nebraska Wesleyan in the American Rivers Conference baseball opening weekend.
 
The Duhawks won game one 7-2, then took the second game of the afternoon 8-2 to win two out of three games.  NWU opened the series with a 5-3 victory on Sunday.  Loras now moves to 8-5 overall while the Prairie Wolves fall to 3-12.
 
NWU held a 2-0 lead in the opening game and appeared to be in good shape to get off to a great start in conference play.  Aaron Nichols doubled to lead off the game, moved to third on a sacrifice then scored on an RBI ground out by Derek Kolbush to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1^st.
 
They added to the lead in the 3^rd inning when Kolbush drew a two-out walk then scored on a double to the gap by Brook Johnson.  That made it 2-0 heading into the bottom of the 2^nd.  Unfortunately, the Prairie Wolves would be held scoreless the final six innings of the game.
 
Loras cut the lead in half with a run in the bottom of the 3^rd by scoring one run then they would tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the 5^th inning.  The big inning was the 6^th when the Duhawks scored four runs on three hits to take control and get ahead 6-2.  The Duhawks did score one more run in the 7^th inning.
 
NWU finished with six hits from six different players.  Connor Cech took the loss on the mound pitching 5 2/3 innings allowing six earned runs on nine hits with three strikeouts.
 
In the second game of the afternoon, the Prairie Wolves struck early once again.  Riley Ward, the starting pitcher in game two, drew a walk then stole second base and moved to third on a wild pitch.  He would score on an RBI single from Kaleb Knox.
 
Loras responded with a run in the bottom of the inning to make the score 1-1 after one inning.  The Duhawks plated three runs in the 3^rd inning to go ahead 4-1. 
 
The only other run in the game for the Prairie Wolves came in the 5^th inning when Jackson Cummins reached on an error and came around to score on a hit by Ward.  They threatened to score two more in the inning, but both runners were stranded in scoring position. 
 
With the lead at 4-2, the Duhawks scored two more runs in the bottom half of the 5^th to open the game back up.  They tacked on one run in both the 7^th and 8^th innings to secure the victory.
 
Loras starting pitcher Curtis Lilienthal struck out eight NWU batters and gave up just two hits in five innings to earn the win.
 
Ward took the loss for the Prairie Wolves pitching five innings allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits with four strikeouts.  Drew Poulas threw 2 2/3 innings giving up only one hit and two earned runs.
 
Knox was the only NWU player to record multiple hits going 2-4 with an RBI.  All five NWU hits in the game were singles.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan is scheduled to play their home opener on Friday (March 29) against Coe College.