May 14, 2011 - It took an extra 24 hours, but the Concordia Cougars and the Benedictine Eagles finally kicked off the 2011 Northern Athletics Conference baseball tournament this morning. The field conditions at Rockford's Road Ranger Stadium prompted a relocating of today's games to Benedictine's home field in Lisle.
Concordia swept Benedictine on the same field back on April 30, but today's game was a complete reversal. The Eagles belted Anthony Collaro (Melrose Park, IL/Walther Lutheran) and three Cougar relievers for 17 hits
including eight extra-base hits, and the fourth-seeded Eagles topped the Cougars by a final score of 13-3.
Collaro gave up a leadoff hit to Nick Karakosta and issued a one-out walk to Kevin Hendricks. A wild pitch put both runners into scoring position, but Collaro escaped with a pop-up to short center and a ground ball to first.
Concordia's initial at-bat began with a walk to Brenden Schulz (Kenosha, WI/Bradford), but he was cut down trying to steal second base as Benedictine starter Kevin Crowley got Nick Skala (Long Grove, IL/St. Viator) swinging at a third strike.
The Eagles came out for their second at-bat and hit Collaro for six runs. A couple of check-swing hits put the Eagles on the board, but a few hits later in the inning were tagged much harder. Dan Zust put one over the fence in right-center for a 3-0 lead, and Kevin Hendricks blasted a three-run shot to right for a 6-0 lead.
With one out in the second, the Cougars joined the homerun parade. Ryan Pacyga (Forest Park, IL/Nazareth Academy) went high and deep to right for his fifth of the season. Dan Eichholzer (Elwood, IL/Joliet Township) followed by reaching on a bunt single, but he was stranded on second to end the inning and leave the Eagles up 6-1.
The Eagles got the run back in the third and chased Collaro from the game. Chris Wanderling drew a two-out walk, and Zust followed with a shot that hit the first-base bag and bounced into the rightfield corner for a run-scoring double. Steve Cox (Villa Park, IL/Willowbrook) entered the game and got the third out to keep the score at 7-1 Eagles.
The Cougars mounted a comeback in the bottom of the inning. Singles to short left-center by Shawn Miller (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper), Schulz and Steve Brown (Naperville, IL/Naperville North) loaded the bases. Skala then lifted a fly to rightfield. Miller beat the throw home although Schulz was cut down trying to advance to third. Cam Stephens (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden) singled just out of the reach of the leaping second baseman to bring home Brown and make the score Benedictine 7, Concordia 3.
Benedictine added a run in the fourth. An error and a walk put the first two runners aboard. Cox got the third batter to ground into a 4-6-3 double play, but Josh Zenawick's double to the right-center gap gave the Eagles an 8-3 lead.
The hole got deeper for Concordia in the sixth. Nick Karakosta led off with a double and came home two batters later on a sacrifice fly. Tim Gindville kept the inning alive with a solid single to center, and Zenawick then picked on the first pitch from Kevin Pawell (Kenosha, WI/Bradford) and drove it over the rightfield fence for a two-run shot and an 11-3 lead.
Benedictine added its final two runs in the seventh with Zust and Hendricks each adding to their RBI totals. Zust's single gave him four RBIs for the day, and Hendricks' fielder's choice gave him a total of five. The Cougars failed to score in the bottom of the seventh, and the game came to an end on the 10-run rule.
The Cougars must now win two straight games to advance to the championship round. They will remain at the Benedictine Sports Complex to play the loser of the Aurora-Concordia Wisconsin game at 3:00 this afternoon.
