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March 21, 2019
S ports
The Lorian
Back into the swing of things Baseball team starts season in Florida
by XAVIER SANCHEZ Sports writer
by PATRICK COSTELLO Sports writer
The Duhawks began their season a week later than expected as their opening series in Jacksonville, Ill., was canceled due to poor weather. This meant that the team’s annual trip to Florida would be the start for their season. The team began the season by winning its first four games. The Duhawks also showed some resiliency when they had to fight its way back into a game after getting down early. Their most notable comeback was in game two as the Duhawks were down by eight runs after two innings. However, clutch relief pitching, and the offense cutting the lead down scoring a few runs every inning rallied the team back and to win the game. A clutch player of that game was firstyear pitcher Ethan Peters. Peters was making his inaugural appearance and threw an inning to seal the victory, he had two strikeouts on the night. When asked about his mindset as he was entering the game Peters said, “I just try my best to do whatever I have to, do what I need to get done with as little problems as possible. It comes pretty easy cause pitching relaxes my mind.” Contributions from unexpected people has happened early and often for the Duhawks thus far this season. Edward Erickson for the Duhawks has pitched well in his appearances having a statline of 5.00 ERA over 9 innings. Another emerging star for the Duhawks has been Dakota Church, who’s defensive contributions as well as base running capabilities has earned him 5 starts this year so far. This has allowed Coach Tebon some flexibility when composing the lineup. For example, with Church earning the trust of both the pitching staff and Coach Tebon he has given Senior catcher Cole Thompson some rest and have him bat as the designated hitter (DH). As Church adds himself, “It’s important to me to have earned the trust of the team as well as the
March Madness begins
photo courtesy LORAS COLLEGE ATHLETICS First-year pitcher Sam Marhefke pitches during one of Loras’ six games in Florida. The team’s overall record now is 6-4.
coaching staff. I believe in all of them and they all believe in me. Being a young guy never worried me, knowing I have my team and T behind me, brings me confidence on the field.” This past, St. Patrick’s Day weekend, the Duhawks flocked to Carol Stream to play two games each against Northland College, and Aurora University. Hoping to build off the successes of the Florida trip the team was eager to get started on the weekend. The first game went according to plan as the Duhawks beat Northland College by a score of 7-1. The second was a completive battle, with the Duhawks having to make another comeback late in the games. Unfortunately, for the Duhawks being in so many close matchups thus far this season has led to some unfortunate outcomes for the season. For the first three loses the Duhawks have received this season, all of them have come in walkoff fashion. This no doubt is frustrating but it means that the Duhawks have been in every game they have played in thus far this season. On St. Patrick’s Day, the Duhawks did not need any luck in their second game against Northland in the weekend winning with a comfortable lead and the final score of 16-9. However, for the second time that weekend it came down to the final inning
before the game was decided. The Duhawks led most of the game by stellar pitching from Erik Edminster, unfortunately, a few balls did not bounce in the Duhawks favor and the Aurora Spartans tied up the game at 3. In the bottom to the eighth the Spartans tagged the Duhawks for one more. The Duhawks were unable to rally in the ninth dropping the second game. There are a lot of positives to take away from this past weekend’s series. But there are not as important as the fight and the desire to win that this team shows. As Senior starting left fielder Jake Oglesby said, “It’s incredibly relaxing because we know that no matter the situation, we refuse to quit and will do the little things one play at a time. As a position player it helps because we know that we don’t have to do too much and we can focus on our jobs because we can trust that the next guy will do theirs. I believe we are ready for conference. Conference is all about how you play as a team and not as individuals and right now, I believe we are playing team baseball that will result in the year we expect to have.” The Duhawks hope to get back on the right path as conference play begins next weekend. The Duhawks were scheduled to host, however, if Petrakis is unable to play the games may be moved to Nebraska.
Tennis team tames opponents by CONNOR HALBMAIER Sports writer
It was an easy day for the men’s tennis team at Oshkosh, Wis On Saturday, the men took on Marian. Kicking off the meet at number one doubles was the pairing of Tommy Linkenheld and Sage Klar. Their opponents, Lawson MacDonald and Coy Paulson, struggled in vain against the Duhawks, and were ultimately defeated 8-2. As for number doubles two, it was Duhawks Konnor Barth and Joe Diedrich against Austin Hall and Kyle Carigan. It was a short match for Barth and Diedrich, completely dominating over their opponents and taking the win, 8-0. In number three doubles, Loras took the win due Marian lacking players. With a 3-0 lead on Marian, Loras moves into the singles with Joe Schneider leading the charge as number one. Facing off against him was MacDonald. It was a close call during the first set for Schneider, but he managed to overcome 6-4, and after having found his game, went on to take the second set 6-0. Following after Schneider was Riley Collins in the number two singles slot.
Collins showed no mercy to his opponent, Hall, taking both sets 6-0, 6-0, chalking up yet another win for the Loras team. Following Collins’s lead, Barth stepped up to compete in the number three singles slot. Paulson stood no chance against the Duhawk, falling to him 6-0, 6-0. The last match of the day was Klar taking on Carigan in the number four singles spot. Klar took the first set by storm, winning 6-0. In the second set, Carigan got a point, but that was all he could do to defend against Klar, allowing him to take the second 6-1. With the added points from taking the numbers five and six spots due to a lack of players, Loras took home the win 9-0. “We just went in and took care of business,” said Head Coach Chad Fenwick. “This match gave us a chance to let some of the guys who don’t normally play in the top six to compete, and they handled themselves very well. It was good to be able to give the other players a chance to rest up for the upcoming weekend.” With their overall score now 6-1, the men’s tennis team is looking forward at next weekend, when they’ll have to compete against three different teams: MSOE and Aurora on Saturday, and Monmouth on Sunday.
Division 1 basketball kicked off the season all the way back in November and after a quick blink of the eye, it is now March. The month of March not only wraps up the regular season and conference tournaments but also launches into one of the most eventful sporting events of the year. The Division 1 Basketball Tournament: Round of 64 opens up Thursday and the madness continues through April 8th. March Madness is set to take over your office, campus, and everywhere in between. The Selection Company has whittled down all of Division 1 programs to the best 64 team. Each team has a great opportunity to make a name for themselves because of uncertainty that comes with playing in the Big Dance. While there are 64 teams in the tourney, some you should look out for more than the others. Here are some teams and early matchups to look out for this weekend. #7 Louisville vs. #10 Minnesota Minnesota joins seven other Big Ten teams in the tournament this year. For Louisville, they are making their first tourney appearance in the post-Pitino era. This game is interesting for non-meaning ful reasons. The coach of Minnesota is former Louisville coach Rick Pitino’s son, Richard Pitino. Some are calling it the “Pitino Revenge Game” since elder Pitino had leave the program after violating a handful of NCAA rules. #5 Marquette vs. #12 Murray State This matchup is one of the better early round must-see games of the tournament. Marquette’s Markus Howard lead the Big East in scoring this season put up 53 points in one game this season. On the other side of this match-up is Ja Morant of Murray State. This season, Morant lead his team to an Ohio Valley Conference tournament title for the second straight season. Despite being at a mid-major, Ja Morant took the country by storm with his high-flying dunks and his dominant play. He averaged 24.6 points on 50.3 shooting, 5.5 rebounds, and 10 assists. He does it it all. #6 Villanova The defending champs deserve some recognition for their continued success after losing Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Donte DiVincenzo. In a very balanced Big East, they still managed to be conference tournament champs. They sailed through the season with few downs and with the experience of what is left on the Wildcat roster, they will make some noise. ACC The Atlantic Coast Conference (also known as the ACC) reigns supreme. Three of the four number one tournament seeds went to the ACC (Duke, UNC, and Virginia). A total of 7 ACC squad are in the tournament with a #7 or better ranking. The bracket is set-up to potentially get a storied Duke/UNC matchup in the final game. Fans should want that as both have been playing really well. UNC has the 2-1 edge but Duke was playing hurt both games. Fan should want this more than anything this tournament season. #1 Duke Duke has to have its own part of this piece. Duke has been so dominant and looks to be peaking at the right time. Duke is going to win it all. Coach Mike Krzyzewski continued success will end sharing glory with the freshman core and surrounding Blue Devil while confetti is being rained on them. After that, Coach K will say his goodbyes and send Williamson, Barrett, and Reddish to the NBA.
