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Olberding, Duhawks use long ball to defeat Rams
Loras is one win from #1 seed in IIAC Tournament
Jon Denham, Sports Information Director
May 1, 2009

Loras 12
Cornell 8

Nick Olberding is a biology research major at Loras College, and a good one at that, with a G.P.A. that most college students' parents would love to see at the end of every semester. The way he has been hitting the ball lately, you'd think he was a physics major who studied nothing but the response of leather to aluminum.

As Olberding has come on late in his final season, the Duhawks have continued to climb the standings. The shortstop from Dyersville, Iowa has hit safely in 17 straight games. Eleven of those were multi-hit games. During the Duhawks' current eight game winning streak, he is hitting .543 (19-for-35) with 11 runs scored and 11 RBI.

And oh, by the way, he quietly became Loras' all-time leader in hits over the final weekend of April.

When Olberding singled home the eventual winning runs against Simpson to complete the weekend sweep of the Storm, he trotted 90 feet into the record book. The senior passed Justin Pierro (Class of '98) with the 204th hit of his career. He tallied 47 hits as a freshman, 53 as a sophomore, and 57 as a junior. He is now up to 54 in his final season after going 5-for-6 on Friday night at Ash Park in Mount Vernon.

Olberding is tied for the team lead in homeruns after hitting two against the Cornell Rams on Friday. The second came in the key top of the eighth inning to break a 7-7 tie. Loras led 7-4 before the Rams rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh. Adam Gross led off the inning with a solo homerun (his fifth to briefly take the team lead), and Olberding followed with a solo shot of his own before the Duhawks rallied to score three more times to deflate the home Rams.

Clark Egdorf, Austin Brown, and John Schroeder, along with Gross, each had multi-hit games. The top of the order (pictured above) of Miklo, Olberding, Kuebel, and Egdorf went 9-for-20 on the night with seven runs scored and six RBI. Kuebel and Egdorf each went deep for Loras, putting Friday's total to five.

Cole Boge earned the win on the mound in relief of Kevin Moriarty.

Loras also sits just one win from the #1 seed and at least a share of their first IIAC title since 1952. The Duhawks were helped in the standings on Friday by Central and Simpson, who scored wins over Wartburg and Buena Vista, handing them each their ninth losses of the season. Coe College's IIAC regular season is over at 14-8. The biggest hurdle for the Duhawks to clear at this point is the Luther Norse, who are one game back at 13-7.

A doubleheader sweep by Loras of Cornell (now 6-13) ensures they can't be caught. But if the Duhawks slip, Luther can capitalize. Each team plays the two bottom teams in the league. Loras will be rooting for last place University of Dubuque (2-18) on Saturday to win at least one game over the home Norse. Loras won the season series with Luther, 2-1 on April 17-18

All games begin at 1:00 PM tomorrow and weather across the state looks perfect for baseball. For head coach Carl Tebon and the Duhawks, they hope it is a great baseball day.