The Wartburg baseball team rebounded from a 14-13 loss to Loras Friday night by closing out the three-game Iowa Conference series with two wins Saturday at Hertel Field.

If pitching was a concern for head coach Joel Holst before, two senior hurlers may have calmed his nerves for the remainder of the season.

Aaron Saeugling, making his first start of the year, worked five innings on the mound for the Knights. Saeugling allowed only one earned run while striking out six Duhawk hitters and allowing no walks.

“He’s not completely healthy. I think there is still some tendonitis that he’ll have to work through,” Holst said. “But for him to throw five innings was really big and was a good start to a doubleheader sweep for us [Saturday].”

Leading the offensive attack for the Knights was Martijn who went 3-for-4 with a home run, his fourth of the year. Zach Nagle added to the Knights’ strong offensive showing as he went 2-for-3 at the plate including a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored.

“The rest of our guys really swung the bat very well through the weekend,” Holst said. “The more that our guys get the opportunities on the field in terms of batting practice and things like that, I think that we’re going to be a pretty good offensive team.”

Luke Albert, the other senior starter, took the mound for the Knights in game two and took the complete-game win as the Knights topped Loras 5-3. The win moved Albert’s record to 3-1 on the season.

The two wins on Saturday move the Knights to 11-10 overall and 5-1 in the Iowa Conference standings.

“Those games yesterday, being able to bounce back after a tough loss, were really important to us. Five-and-one is pretty good right now,” Holst said.

Series opener a long battle

Billy Schmitt took the mound Friday night in the series opener for Wartburg. After a slow start, allowing six runs in the top of the first, the Knights slowly chipped away at the Loras lead.

“Friday night was the second game, where for some reason or another [Billy] had slow starts,” Holst said. “He settled in a little bit and I think he got some things going.”

The Knights used a six-run inning of their own in the bottom of the third to pull within one run. Wartburg then took the lead after a three-run fifth and a two-run sixth inning, now leading 12-8.

The Duhawks plated five runs in the top of the seventh to take the one-run lead back from the Knights. Wartburg scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 13-13.

A scoreless eighth inning ensued, putting the teams deadlocked heading into the final inning. Loras scored one run in the top of the ninth and the Knights could not answer, falling 14-13 in the almost three-hour contest.