LINCOLN, Neb. - The University of Dubuque baseball team made the long trip to Lincoln, Neb. worth their while, taking three of four games as the Spartans bats came alive.

Saturday Recap
Game One
-Nebraska Wesleyan was the first team to get on the scoreboard in the series with a first inning run.
-Jake Cekander carried his hot hitting over from the Westminster doubleheader with a single to bring two Spartans home in the third for the 2-1 lead. That Cekander single sparked the UD offense as Hunter Martindale would drill a two-run home run as a part of a five run fourth inning to blow open a 7-1 lead. 
-A Max Snowden RBI double in the top of the fifth would make it 8-1, giving UD enough room to play with as Nebraska Wesleyan made their push with five runs in the fifth, but that was all they would get and UD would come away with an 8-5 win.

Game Two
-The Spartans raced out to a 5-0 lead through three innings in game two, highlighted by a two-run home run off the bat of Kellen Mitchell in a three-run third inning.
-Nebraska Wesleyan got all five of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth and capped the five run inning with a two-run homer of their own.
-The two teams would each plate one run in the sixth and eighth innings, sending the game into extra innings at 7-7, however, they would run out of daylight, forcing the game to resume on Sunday morning before the start of Sunday's doubleheaders.
-In the top of the 12th, the first three Spartans reached base but two quick outs had the Prairie Wolves on the verge of escaping the jam. That was until Cole DeStefanis came up in a big way, launching a grand slam to left center to send the UD dugout into a frenzy.
-In the 11-7 win, DeStefanis delivered five RBI on three hits. Max Snowden and Jake Cekander would also come away with multi-hit performances with three and two, respectively, while both also scored two runs.
-Seth Crandall came away with the win after four innings of relief, keeping NWU scoreless during those frames.
-The Spartans are now 3-1 in extra inning games this season

Sunday
Game Three
-Cole DeStefanis stayed hot to get the scoring started in game three, singling to left field to plate Jake Cekander for a 1-0 lead after the top of the third. The Prairie Wolves would answer with a crooked number in the bottom half of the inning, stringing together six hits for five runs to put UD in a 5-1 deficit through three innings.
-The Spartans would not go down without a fight, getting an RBI single from Colton Pfeifer and RBI fielder's choice from Quincy Bryant to cut the NWU lead in half in the sixth, but would leave the tying run on base.
-With NWU hanging to the 5-3 lead entering the final inning, Cekander ripped a double center field to begin the inning and promptly moved to third on a Kellen Mitchell single to right field, before scoring on a wild pitch to get UD within one run with the tying run in scoring position. A DeStefanis walk would give UD runners on first and second with no outs, however the Prairie Wolves induced a 5-3 double play and strikeout to end the Spartans comeback chances.
-UD would outhit NWU in the game, 12-8, with eight of nine Spartans in the starting lineup recorded a hit in the loss. Max Snowden, Mitchell, DeStefanis and Joe Unger all recorded two base knocks.

Game Four
-UD would not let the close loss linger over to the final game of the series, once again hopping out to an early lead and this time in a big way with four first inning runs. DeStefanis stayed hot with an RBI single to center, leading to a Patrick Rafferty sac fly and a Colton Pfeifer two-run single to cap off the four run inning.
-That 4-0 lead would shrink to 4-2 before the UD bats exploded in the top of the third. The Spartans sent 13 batters to the plate in the frame for a seven spot to blow the lead open to 11-2 and all but seal the series win.
-One big inning was not enough for the Spartans. In the top of the seventh, Kellen Mitchell would hit his second two-run home run of the weekend on the way to the UD offense batting around for the second time in the game, with another seven run inning, with nine hits and 14 Spartans coming to the plate to put the 10-run rule into use with a 20-8 win.
-Edward Rosas picked up the win, throwing five innings while scattering six hits and three runs while striking out five.

Weekend Notes
-20 runs in game four is a season high.
-This is just the third time since 2010 that the Spartans have scored 20 or more runs in a game.
-The 3-1 weekend moves UD up to fourth place in the conference with a 6-6 record in the A-R-C.