On a frigid evening for baseball, the Buena Vista baseball team hosted Loras College for an Iowa Conference doubleheader on Wednesday, and the two teams split the two games with BVU taking the first, 3-1, and Loras winning the nightcap, 6-2.

Both games were pitcher's duel for the majoriity as each side worked quickly with the offenses held in check in large part do to the playing conditions.

Loras plated the game's first run in the opener in the first inning on a wild pitch.  Egan Bonde escape further damage with a strikeout as the Duhawks left the bases loaded.

It remained a 1-0 contest until the fifth when Bryce Rheault drove in the tying run on a chopper up the middle with a drawn in infield, that was fielded by the shortstop but did not have a play to get Peyton Renning who was headed home on contact.

Noah Paper gave the Beavers their first lead when he sent a liner into right centerfield.  The ball looked like it was going to be caught by the rightfielder, but he slipped slightly and the ball hit off his glove, scoring pinch runner Ryan Steim.

A sacrifice fly from Kendall Candor scored Porter Sartor for a key insurance run in the eighth.

BVU was held to only four hits, but three of those were doubles, including ones from Sartor and Renning.

Bonde went seven innings and earned his first win of the year (1-1).  He scattered just four hits and worked around four walks, two of which came in the first inning.

The Duhawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of game two with a two-run home run to right with the wind blowing out that direction.

BVU got one of those runs back in the bottom half on an single from Paper, but had the game-tying run thrown out at home from left field.  It was the second runner thrown out at home in the inning, as BVU was tagged out at the dish on a double steal attempt.

The Duhawks made a pitching change after that first inning, and over the next four frames, both sides combined for only two hits.

BVU pulled even at 2-2 in the sixth on an RBI groundout from Sartor. The Beavers, who walked nine times in the contest, were unable to do much with those base runners, as they left seven on in the game.

Loras had a two-out rally in the seventh to push across the go-ahead run.  Following a two-out single, Tate Holmes was called for a balk, and then the Duhawks took advantage on a line-drive to center to take a 3-2 lead.

Both teams went down quietly in the eight before Loras broke things open with three runs in the ninth.

BVU was again held to just four singles.

Holmes suffered the loss after allowing three runs over 6.2 innings.  Jake Lewis came on and got the final out and pitched the eight  before turning things over to Gage Smart.  After earning the save in game one, Smart surrendered the final three runs in game two on just two hits.

Buena Vista is now 19-13 on the year (10-7 IIAC).  The Beavers will now close out their home schedule this weekend by hosting Simpson College in a three-game series starting with Friday's single game at 6:00pm.  Senior Day will take place on Saturday with the doubleheader that begins at 1:00pm.