Duhawks sweep Rams, up to 4th in IIAC
Jon Denham, Sports Information Director
April 27, 2008

It might not have truly been "must win", but without knowing how other IIAC games were going and starting the weekend on the outside looking in at the annual IIAC tournament, the Duhawks' dugout may have felt these were, in fact, "must win" games with the Cornell College this weekend.

Brian Kearns earned the first win of his Loras career in relief on Saturday in Game 1, Kevin Moriarty earned his team high fifth win in Game 2, and senior Tim Carty answered the bell with an eight inning complete game win of his own on Sunday to help vault the Duhawks into the fourth spot in the IIAC standings entering the final week of action. Carty needed just 86 pitches on Sunday to earn the win.

The sweep of the Rams helped Loras climb into the IIAC tournament, if it were to start today. They are also now looking ahead to a matchup with the Luther College Norse on Wednesday at 6:00 PM. Luther currently sits one game ahead of the Duhawks in the loss column, but .003 percentage points behind Loras for the fourth spot.

Over the weekend, Brock Schneden led the way offensively and even threw in a couple of defensive plays in right field as he raced to the fence to track down fly balls. For the series he knocked in 10 of the 33 runs Loras plated, including a pair of three run homeruns.

In Game 1 on Saturday, Loras tied the game on the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings when Clark Egdorf's leadoff single turned into an RBI sacrifice fly off the bat of Schneden. Loras then conceded a run in the top of the eighth before Nick Olberding doubled in the game-tying and -winning runs in the bottom half.

Saturday also marked Senior Day for the baseball squad. Ten seniors - Don Pirkle, Chad Christell, Brock Schneden, Tim Andrews, Matt Barilla, Ryan Dunn, Tim Carty, Nick Miller, Nate Roling, and Brad Joniec - will be at Petrakis Park on Wednesday for the final home game of their careers.