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Sports The Lorian April 10, 2014 11

Duhawks still searching for first conference winLoras sweeps UW-Platteville, gets swept by Buena Vista, remains even at 12-12 on the season

by BOO WOOD | sportswriterAfter breaking even at 2-2 last week, the

Duhawks record remains even at 12-12 for the season.

On Thursday, the Duhawks took on the Pioneers of UW-Platteville in a double-head-er. Loras amassed an astounding 21 hits and 16 runs en route to a non-conference sweep. The Duhawks were lead by junior Katie Ser-pico who went 6-8 at the plate with 6 RBIs, which included a three run home run.

The Duhawks came out strong in game one with a two-run double by first-year Dan-ielle Stromert. Stromert would reach home on a single to center field by sophomore Kali Koopmann. In the third, Katie Serpico would double and bring in two Duhawks to extend the lead to three. Junior pitcher Hol-ly Klein was lights-out through four, before giving up a solo home run in the fifth, which broke up the shutout.

Loras would respond in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run home run by soph-omore Makaila Haase; her fourth home run of the season. After surrendering another run in the top of the sixth, the Duhawks put up a four run inning to close the sixth. With runners on first and second, Serpico would blast her sixth home run of the year and send the Duhawks to the seventh with a 9-2 lead. First-year Erin Hosch would earn her first save on the season as the Duhawks took game one 9-6.

In game two, the Duhawks got on the

board first in the second inning as sopho-more Maddie Bare came around to score after a ground-out RBI by sophomore Sa-mantha Shindelar in the second. The Du-hawk lead wouldnt last long, as Platteville responded in the top of the third with two runs of their own. The score would remain 2-1 until the fifth when the Duhawks sur-rendered another three runs.

In the bottom of the fifth, the bats came to life as Serpico and Haase each hit RBI singles to cut the lead to two. At the top of the sixth, Platteville would stretch the lead to three after a solo home run off. In the second half of the inning, Bare would put the Duhawks up on the board again with a RBI double. A towering bomb by Shindelar over the center field wall evened the game at six. In the bottom of the sev-enth, with the game on the line, senior Alaina Rigdon dug into the box with run-ners on second and third pounded a liner into left field, bringing senior Lara Mangi-alardi home and giving the Duhawks a 7-6 victory.

It had been a while since I had been in a situation like that, said Rigdon. Going into the at-bat, I went in with total confidence that I would get the job at hand done.

On Saturday, the Duhawks took on Iowa Conference foe Buena Vista in their confer-ence home opener. Buena Vista would take game one 6-4 and game two 7-6 despite two comeback pushes by the Duhawks.

Game one broke open in the fourth as the Beavers scored six runs in the inning. In the bottom half for the Duhawks, Kali Koopman opened up the inning with a double and later scored off of a single from Haase. In the fifth,

Katie Serpico started the rally by blasting her seventh home run of the season over the left field fence, making the score 6-2.

However, the Duhawks couldnt keep the rally going in the seventh to complete the come from behind victory and fell, 6-4.

In their second game against Buena Vista, the Beavers found their bats early and got off to a 7-0 lead after two innings. The Duhawks would come back in the third with a four run inning which included a three run homer from Rigdon. After a Shindelar homer in the fourth, the Duhawks went scoreless for the rest of the game and lost the second game of the double-header 7-6.

Its hard to come out of a battle against BV with two losses after we had previous-ly proved what we are capable of against Platteville, said Rigdon. We fought in both games, especially the second one, but werent able to come out on top. We are hit-ting the ball well, but we failed to string the runs together. Even though they are con-sidered losses in the books, we were able to learn more about ourselves during these games and that will contribute to us becom-ing a better skilled team in the future.

The Duhawks will get back in action on Wednesday, April 9 against Wartburg Col-lege at 3 p.m. at Faber Clark field.

Duhawks prepare for their cross-town rivalsTennis team drops 3 straight to Iowa Conference opponents

by RYAN GRAHAM | sports editorAfter losing three straight to Iowa Confer-

ence opponents, the Duhawks record stands at 0-5 in the IIAC and 0-10 overall.

On Saturday, the Duhawks played a dou-ble-header with matches against Central and Simpson. The Duhawks fell to Central by the score of 8-1. Their lone point came from sophomore Ulises Hernandez who beat Kyle Freischlag of Central in three matches.

Loras was unable to rebound later in the day against Simpson, who beat the Duhawks 7-2. Despite the loss, junior Ken Tucker turned in a strong performance, defeating

Simpsons Mike Rundle in two matches in singles competition. Tucker also helped se-cure a 9-7 win in doubles competition along-side sophomore Neil Kane as well.

On Tuesday, the Duhawks were no match for conference leading Coe, who won the match 9-0. The loss is Loras tenth of the year.

We played all right against Central but we really struggled in doubles, said head coach Daniel Kurt. Against Simpson, our one-dou-bles didnt play very well. They lost 8-1 and it should have been a lot closer match. Then in singles against Simpson, we had a lot of close matches but we werent able to pull them out. Ulises and Neil both lost in three sets. But on the bright side, Ken Tucker played really well

against Simpson.Still in search of their first win of the sea-

son, the Duhawks will take on St. Ambrose Wednesday, followed by a match against University of Dubuque on Thursday.

Im not too familiar with how we will match up against St Ambrose, Kurt said. But in the past couple years; weve had good matches with them so hopefully this year will be the same. Thursday is a big meet against University of Dubuque and we are hoping we can beat them. Im confident that if we play well we will come out ahead.

Loras and UD both find themselves at the bottom of the Iowa Conference standings. UD is also winless in the conference at 0-4. Their 1-9 record on the season puts them

just one game ahead of the Duhawks. The match against UD should provide the Du-hawks with their best opportunity to pick up their first win on the season.

The match against the University of Dubuque is a huge match for us, Kurt said. We circle this match on the calendar ev-ery year and we are really excited to play at home on the Loras courts. I dont think were really preparing any different physically, but I think our mentality is a lot different just because UD is such a big rival. Were really going to want to take it to them on Thurs-day.

The Duhawks will face off against their cross-town rivals Thursday at 3:30 p.m. outside the AWC.

photo by KATHERINE EDWARDSSophomore Makaila Haase celebrates with her teammates after hitting a home run during the Duhawks 9-6 win over UW-Platteville.

Junior pitcher Holly Kline winds up for a pitch during the Duhawks win over UW-Platteville last Thursday. Klein leads the Duhawks and is tied for fifth in the conference with a 7-5 record on the season.

photo by KATHER-INE EDWARDS

photo by RYAN GRAHAMJunior Katie Serpico blasts a three-run home run during the Duhawks win over Platteville Thursday.