Loras is the early surprise of the Iowa Conference baseball race. Picked to finish ninth in the coaches pre-season poll the Duhawks are off to a 6-0 start following a sweep of a four game series against Simpson and pitching is a major factor. The Loras staff has an earned run averaged of 2.54 and opponents are only batting .228.
Loras coach Carl Tebon says you are no better than the guy who starts the next game and their pitchers have been doing a good job and giving them a lot of innings. He says they have good leadership and depth in their staff.
Loras is winning the close games it lost a year ago and Tebon says experience is a major reason. “We have basically the same team we had last year, not much of a difference…they’ve been in those games, it’s being able to execute, it’s being able to perform under pressure,” Tebon says.
Tebon says the players have been motivated by the pre-season poll. “I think it was one thing we kind of used in our favor a little bit,” Tebon says. He says coaches in the polls usually go off what happened last year and he says he felt confident their pitching would keep them in every game.
Overall, Loras has won nine of its last 10 games and Tebon hopes the weather will allow his team to keep playing. The Duhawks are scheduled to play the University of Dubuque in a doubleheader on today.
Loras is 12-4 overall.