March 19, 2011 - c Day one was to pit the Cougars against Webster in the afternoon game and Wartburg College in the evening. While Concordia and Webster completed their game with the Gorloks winning 3-1 on a walk-off homer in the ninth, the result of the CUC-Wartburg game was incomplete. Lightning and heavy rain suspended the game in the bottom of the fourth with Concordia leading 5-0. Weather permitting, the game will be resumed Sunday morning at 10:00 with Concordia's game against Franklin College to follow immediately.
The first game presented a classic pitchers' duel between Concordia's Micah Buss (Columbus, IN/Columbus North) and Webster's David Mueller. The Gorloks had an early scoring threat in the second when they put two runners aboard with one out. However, Buss escaped trouble by getting a fly to right and a line drive to left to keep the game scoreless.
The Cougars broke through in the fourth. Brenden Schulz (Kenosha, WI/Bradford) walked on a full count to lead off the inning. One out later, Schulz moved up to second on a groundout by Cam Stephens (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden). Ryan Pacyga (Forest Park, IL/Nazareth Academy) stepped up and ripped a shot to the leftfield corner that was inches foul. However, Pacyga capitalized on a second chance and lined a shot past the shortstop for an RBI single and a 1-0 lead.
The game stayed at 1-0 for a while as Buss allowed just four baserunners through the first six innings and erased two of the runners himself with well-timed pickoff throws. In the seventh, a lead-off walk made it to third base with just one out, but Buss kept the lead by fielding an infield dribbler and throwing to the plate to catch the runner.
Buss was not so fortunate in the eighth as the Gorloks tied the game. Matt Moore led off with a single and moved up on an errant pickoff throw. A sacrifice moved Moore to third from where he scored on a wild pitch.
Webster reliever Steven Dooley retired the Cougars 1-2-3 in the ninth. In the bottom of the inning. Nathan Shelton singled between third and short. John Hurley (River Grove, IL/Fenwick) got one out when Anthony Genna bunted foul with two strikes. Hurley then got ahead 1-2 on cleanup hitter Tom Henke, but Henke sent the next pitch on the outer half of the plate to rightfield. The ball sliced toward the foul pole and landed over the fence about 10 feet inside for a two-run homer and a 3-1 Webster victory.
Buss' final line read 7 2/3 innings, three hits, one unearned run, two walks and six strikeouts. Buss now has an ERA of 1.31 in 20 2/3 innings (three starts).
