DECORAH, Iowa - The University of Dubuque baseball team opened American Rivers Conference play on Saturday and won the doubleheader over the Luther College Norse by 7-0 in game one and 11-4 in game two. Highlighting the afternoon was the Spartans Johnny Blake who tossed a complete nine inning game no-hitter en route to a dominating 7-0 victory. He joins Roger Wicklund (vs. Rockford 4/13/66) and Chris Franks (vs. Wartburg in 1984) as the schools trio of no hitters in the record book.

Blake shut down the Luther Norse and allowed no runs on no hits after facing 28 batters. He struck out 10 batters and allowed a lone walk in the bottom of the fourth. He improved to 3-0 this season.

"Johnny competed at a high level, he has the ability to dominate every time he gets the ball," stated head coach Dan Spain. "Early on he gave our offense an opportunity to score and then continued to make pitches. Every time he steps on the mound we believe we're going to win, today he made sure of it."

The two teams played scoreless through five innings when the Spartans offense opened up in the top of the sixth after scoring six runs off six hits. UD would add a run in the seventh before both teams were held out of the scoring column in the final two innings. The Spartans scored seven runs off 13 hits and left 10 runners on base.

Leading the offense in the opener was Jake Cekander who went 3-5 at the plate and scored a run. Aidan Elfering went 2-3 with an RBI, Luke Burgos was 2-4, Patrick Rafferty was 2-5 with two RBI's, and Maguire Fitzgerald was 1-4, but garnered the team's only homerun in the sixth inning to left field and collected three RBI's.

In game two, starting pitcher Aidan Elfering improved to 3-0 after collecting the win after throwing seven innings, striking out eight and allowing one earned run. The Spartans scored 11 runs off 13 hits and committed two errors. Luther scored four runs off eight hits and committed a pair of errors in the loss.

"Pitchers were outstanding and offensively we're starting to compete as well as we have all year," added Spain. "Our team is showing a lot of trust in our mindset and our approach to each pitch."

Colin Husko led the UD offense as leadoff. He finished game two 3-5 with three RBI's. Jake Cekander hitting second was 2-4 with three RBI's, Aidan Elfering hitting third went 2-5 with three RBI's. Luke Burgos was 2-5 with an RBI and Daniel Maller went 2-4 with an RBI. Friday's single game at Luther College, which was postponed to a later date has not been re-scheduled yet.

Spain added, "We played good baseball today, our team is starting to figure out who they are and recognizing their ability to separate themselves on the field."

Next up for the Spartans is another A-R-C doubleheader vs. the Coe College Kohawks on Tuesday, March 26 beginning at 12:00 p.m. at Dan W. Runkle Field. The Spartans stay at home and will play Wartburg College on Good Friday, March 29 at 3:00 p.m. The two teams will continue the series on Saturday, March 30 in a doubleheader beginning at 12:00 p.m.