Arnold homers in loss at Loras

DUBUQUE, Iowa -- Kolton Arnold pushed his hit streak to 12 games by ripping a two-run homer in the first inning, but the Storm could not hold on and lost 8-5 at Loras on Monday.

Arnold smoked his second round tripper of the season and drove in Noah Sacco to give the Storm (11-13, 3-9 American Rivers) the early 2-0 advantage.

The Duhawks (13-11, 8-7 A-R-C) were able to scratch a run across in the bottom of the first to cut the deficit in half.

The Arnold and Sacco duo struck once again in the third, this time coming on an RBI single to left field by Arnold to score his teammate. Arnold later scored in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Nathan Carlin to make it 4-1. Devin Creger added an sacrifice fly in the fourth to extend the lead to 5-1.

Loras repeated its Saturday efforts with a huge fifth inning to tie the game at 5-5. The Duhawks scored four runs on two hits, with the big blow coming from a three-run homer. Loras tallied 13 of its 26 runs in the series during the fifth inning.

The Storm gave up three more runs in the seventh to go down 8-5 and the score would remain there the rest of the contest.

After appearing in both games of the Saturday doubleheader as a pinch hitter, Sacco was back in the starting lineup for the first time since March 27. The sophomore wasted no time in getting back to form and collected three hits and a walk.

Brady Held took his first loss of the season after going 6.1 innings and allowed eight runs to score, five of which were earned.

Simpson plays its fourth game in a row on the road tomorrow at Central, with a start time of 3 p.m.