WAVERLY, Iowa – Wartburg baseball picked up some important American Rivers Conference wins in a doubleheader sweep over Loras at home. The Knights move to 18-13 overall and to 8-9 in A-R-C play after picking up its first series win against Loras since the 2017 season.
Game Summary
- Game One
- First Inning
- The Knights got on the scoreboard first after Keaton Gray scored on an RBI single from Zach Walton, followed by Eliot Jurgensen scoring on a passed ball to make it 2-0 early
- Walton came across to score on a Noah Day RBI groundout to put the Knights up three after the first
- Third Inning
- With the bases loaded, the Duhawks were only able to get one across to score to cut the Wartburg lead to two
- With the bases loaded in the bottom half, Caleb Andrews brought Walton and Sam Nicolino around to score on an infield single to push the lead to 5-1
- Fifth Inning
- Andrews brought in two more runs with another two RBI single to extend the lead to six
- With two outs, Gray added one more run with an RBI single to score Andrews as the Knights make it 8-1 after the fifth
- Sixth Inning
- Loras responded in the top of the sixth with two runs of their own to cut the Wartburg lead to 8-3
- Eighth Inning
- The Duhawks scored three runs on three hits in the top half of the eighth to make it 8-6 Wartburg
- Nicolino and Carter Stubitz hit back-to-back RBI singles, followed by a sacrifice fly from Day to extend the lead back to five
- Ninth Inning
- Will Armstrong came in and shut Loras down as the Knights won game one 11-6
- Game Two
- First Inning
- The Knights picked up where they left off, scoring one run in the bottom of the first after Walton singled to score Gray
- Third Inning
- After Jurgensen singled, he took advantage of two passed balls and was able to score a run making it 2-0 Wartburg after three innings
- Fifth Inning
- After five innings pitched, Cael Funk allowed no runs and just two hits with three strikeouts for the Knights
- Sixth Inning
- Loras strung together five singles to bring three runs across and take the lead 3-2
- Seventh Inning
- With runners on the corners, Noah Day hit a sacrifice fly ball to tie the game up at three
- Eighth Inning
- Conner Funk got the Knights got out of a bases loaded jam to keep the game tied at three headed to the bottom of the eighth
- After back-to-back singles from Armstrong and Andrews, the Knights loaded the bases and ended up scoring five runs in the eighth to go ahead 8-3
- Two runs were scored after hit by pitches and two other were driven in by Cole Wessling
- Ninth Inning
- Funk closed out the final frame to get the win on the mound
Top Performers
Coaches Comments
"I loved our offensive approach in both games tonight," said Head Coach
Casey Klunder following the sweep over Loras College. "We had quality at-bats all the way through the lineup and hit deeper into the lineup then we have been recently, so I'm just really proud of these guys."
Klunder talked about the pitching by committee approach they took today in game one, "We really tried to piece this together as best as possible and
Max Hansen got us off to a great start,". "
Hunter Sehr is a guy who saw action in both games and did a great job getting their lefties out."
"I think today's matchup had the conference's best two hitters statistically and I know my vote for conference MVP would go to Zach, he was great today just like he has been for us all season." said Klunder.
Zach Walton provided multiple hits and walks in both games today to extend his reached-base streak to 31 games.
Klunder talked about how crucial the Knights late inning rallies were, "My favorite part of game two was our response to them taking the lead late, we haven't always been able to respond like we did tonight this season, it was a very mature approach from our guys"
With the A-R-C Tournament looming, the Knights are taking one series at a time "We gotta take care of the one in front of us and we did a good job of that tonight," said Klunder.
Notes/Streaks
- With today's sweep, it marks the first regular-season series win over Loras since 2017
- Season-high four RBI for Andrews in game one
- Walton has still reached base in every game this season (31)
- Second career win on the mound for Sehr and Co. Funk
- All have come this season
- Armstrong recorded his first hit of the season in game two
- Gray and Jurgensen now both have 15 multi-hit games this season
- Walton is just behind them with 13
- First career start for Cael Funk
Next Time Out
The Knights are in action next Friday, Apr. 26 at 3 p.m. to begin a three-game series on the road against Central College.
