April 21, 2011 - The Concordia Cougar baseball team, fresh off a #16 ranking in the latest American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) poll, got its first chance to justify its rating with a single game this afternoon against #10-ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The two teams engaged in an exciting back-and-forth battle of offenses, but the host Warhawks had the final say as they pushed acorss two runs in the sixth inning and held on for a 7-6 win. The Cougars saw their 11-game winning streak halted as they fell to 20-5 on the season.

 

The Warhawks made the initial statement of the game in the bottom of the first with two runs off Cougar freshman starter Dan Kluss (Niles, IL/Niles West). But Concordia responded in their next at-bat, loading the bases with no out. A 6-4-3 double play threatened to undo the rally, although Thomas Gier (Fox Lake, IL/Grant) came across with the Cougars' first run on the play. Brenden Schulz (Kenosha, WI/Bradford) salvaged the inning by singling home Dan Eichholzer (Elwood, IL/Joliet Township) with the tying run.

 

Concordia struck again in the third inning as Ryan Pacyga (Forest Park, IL/Nazareth Academy) unloaded for his fourth homer of the season. His blast off of Riley Tincher put the Cougars on top 3-2.

 

For the next couple of innings, the momentum would keep changing faster than the recent weather forecasts. Whitewater regained the lead in the bottom of the third with a pair of runs. Both teams scored in the fourth, Concordia's run coming on a two-out single by Schulz and an RBI double by Robert Weis (Oak Creek, WI/H.S.). The Cougars then chased Tincher from the game in the fifth when Cam Stephens (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden) led off with a double. Pacyga drew a walk from relief pitcher Justin Lambert, and Gier singled to load the bases. Lambert retired Eichholzer for the first out, but Eric Ignatowski (Carol Stream, IL/Glenbard North) delivered a clutch two-run single to give Concordia its second lead of the game at 6-5.

 

Garett Balind (Bonfield, IL/Herscher) relieved Kluss to start the bottom of the fifth and retired the side with the help of a double play. However, a leadoff walk in the sixth sparked a two-run rally by the Warhawks as they reclaimed the lead at 7-6.

 

Whitewater's bullpen quieted the Cougar bats in the seventh and eighth, but Concordia looked to rally in the ninth.

Nick Skala (Long Grove, IL/St. Viator) drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on Stephens' grounder to second. But the Warhawks called upon Jeff Donovan to close out the game, and he did so by striking out Pacyga and retiring Gier on a sharp grounder to the shortstop.

 

Head coach Adam Smith remarked after the game, "You don't like to lose, but I liked our effort today. We battled them right up to the last pitch. We showed that we belong with the top teams, and this game gives us more confidence going forward."

 

The Cougars will resume Northern Athletics Conference play on Saturday afternoon when they host Dominican University in a noon doubleheader.