Wartburg College (18-10, 12-4) and Loras College (13-10, 11-5) will sandwich Hertel Field doubleheaders — Saturday, April 19, at 1 p.m. and Monday, April 21, at 3:30 p.m. — around Easter Sunday with the Iowa Conference lead possibly in the balance.

Coach Joel Holst's Knights are currently tied with Buena Vista University atop the standings, while the Duhawks are a game back. Wartburg has won five of its last six, while Loras has taken four of its last five.
 
The Knights have four hitters above .300 — juniors DJ Utley (Cedar Rapids Prairie), .389, and Jackson Litterer (Waverly-Shell Rock), .325; and sophomore Ryan Kemp (Keokuk) and senior Ryan Powers (Calamus-Wheatland) both at .324. Utley leads the team with five home runs, 23 RBIs, and a slugging percentage of .633. Kemp, who has a team-leading 12 doubles, also is tops with 33 runs scored. Litterer has swiped 10 bases.
 
Two unbeaten hurlers head the pitching staff — seniors Ben Rettenmeier (Cedar Rapids Jefferson), 5-0 with a 1.80 ERA and Michael Schinstock (Urbandale), 4-0, 3.09.  Sophomore Parker Bolt (Gladbrook-Reinbeck) is 4-3, 4.09.
 
The Duhawks stunned Coe last weekend in the opener of a doubleheader, 6-5, on a walk-off home run by Patrick Walsh, his first roundtripper of the year. Walsh leads the team in hitting at .354, followed by Eric DeSousa, .338, and Danny Fahlgren, .333. On the mound, Walsh is 4-1 with a stingy 2.17 ERA. Four other hurlers also have seen significant action for Coach Carl Tebon — Miles Canady, 2-0, 4.96; Adam Schwoebel, 2-1, 4.18; Will Petrosky, 2-3, 4.00; and Jeremy Gerardy, 2-3, 5.29.