April 30, 2011 - The Concordia Cougars took two very important wins in Northern Athletics Conference play this afternoon. While the first game was an 11-0 rout behind the pitching of Anthony Collaro (Melrose Park, IL/Walther Lutheran), the 4-3 win in game two was anything but easy.
Concordia relievers Kevin Pawell (Kenosha, WI/Bradford) and Pat Conlin (Arlington Heights, IL/Rolling Meadows) combined to hurl seven scoreless innings of relief after Benedictine had taken a 3-0 lead against starter Dan Kluss (Niles, IL/Niles West). But while Conlin notched his fourth save of the season to save Pawell's win, it was centerfielder Shawn Miller (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) that arguably had just as important a save. Miller threw out pinch-runner Andrew Mullins at the plate for the second out of the ninth inning after Dan Zust's single up the middle was about to send the game into extra innings at best. Conlin then retired Nick Karakosta on a grounder to first to wrap up an important win, the Cougars' 14th in conference play.
The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the second on a two-out throwing error. They added to the lead after Kluss gave up a base hit and a walk to the first two hitters in the third. The runs eventually scored on a sacrifice fly and a two-out single by John Zenawick, but the Cougar pitchers were solid from that point on. The Eagles did not manage another base hit until Zust's near game-tying hit in the ninth.
Concordia fought back with a single run in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Cam Stephens (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden). The turning point of the game came in the sixth as Brenden Schulz (Kenosha, WI/Bradford) drew a four-pitch leadoff walk from Eagles' starter Dave Nowaczyk. Steve Brown (Naperville, IL/Naperville North) then reached on an infield hit, and both runners moved up when the third baseman's throw to first sailed high for an error. Nick Skala's (Long Grove, IL/St. Viator) grounder to third scored Schulz to make the score 3-2. Stephens was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. With Ryan Pacyga (Forest Park, IL/Nazareth Academy) at the plate, Nowaczyk had Stephens leaning off of first, but his throw went past the first baseman for the second error of the inning. Brown scored while Stephens raced to third, and Stephens scored on the next pitch as Pacyga laced a solid single to left for the 4-3 lead.
Pawell pitched four inning to gain the win and improve to 2-0 on the year. He allowed just the one hit on Zenawick's RBI single, walked two and struck out one before giving way to Conlin in the seventh.
In game one, Collaro was in complete control in improving to 6-0 on the year. The senior hurled a complete-game (eight-inning) four-hitter, striking out eight, walking three and getting two double-play ground balls.
Concordia's offense supported Collaro with a run in the second on Thomas Gier's (Fox Lake, IL/Grant) run-scoring single. Gier would go 4-4 with a sacrifice fly in game one, driving in three runs.
The Cougars added to their lead with three in the third on Skala's RBI single and Pacyga's two-run double. Gier drove home a run in the fifth to make the score 5-0, and Eric Ignatowski's (Carol Stream, IL/Glenbard North) single in the sixth plated the sixth run. Concordia broke the game wide open with five in the eighth behind Ignatowski's two-run single and Derek Binninger's (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) two-run double.
Concordia (25-7, 14-2 NAC) will host Rockford College on Sunday afternoon at 1:00.
