May 11, 2012 - Faced with the prospect of a difficult road back to the championship round of the Northern Athletics Conference tournament after today's earlier loss to Benedictine University, the Concordia Cougars took out their frustrations on Dominican University. The Cougars assaulted the Stars' pitching staff for 21 hits and a 22-0 seven-inning victory.
Concordia struck for four runs against Dominican starter Mitch McCaffery in the top of the second.
Nick Skala (Long Grove, IL/St. Viator) led off with a high fly that got caught up in the swirling wind and was dropped by the centerfielder. Skala moved to third on a grounder to second and scored the first run on a wild pitch. However, the Cougars were not done.
Dan Eichholzer (Elwood, IL/Joliet Township) ripped a double down the rightfield line, and
Cam Stephens (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden) followed by hammering a 2-0 pitch to the gap in right-center for a stand-up triple. Stephens scored on a groundout by
Rob Fioravanti (Evergreen Park, IL/H.S.) for a three-run lead. Concordia's final run of the inning came on consecutive singles by
Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian), Brenden Schulz (Kenosha, WI/Bradford) and
Robert Weis (Oak Creek, WI/H.S.).
The game became a rout in the fourth inning as Concordia sent 18 men to the plate and put up 14 runs. The first four runs provided one of the most unusual moments of the tournament thus far. With the bases loaded and one out
, Anthony Even (Franklin Park, IL/West Leyden) shot an 0-1 pitch to the gap in right-center. Two runs scored easily, but Even headed to third, thinking that the runner from first was going home. Even began to retreat toward second base, but the throw by the third baseman sailed into rightfield. Schulz scored from third, and Even followewd behind him, just beating the throw to the plate.
The Cougars continued to pound the ball in the inning, at one point having 12 men reach base consecutively. Key hits in the inning included a three-run double by Stephens and two-run doubles by Schulz and
Shawn Miller (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper). When Brennan Taylor finally retired Stephens on a liner to center, the Cougars had been at bat for 38 minutes and extended their lead to 18-0.
With the length of time that Beelen had to sit in the dugout, head coach
Adam Smith elected not to send the lefty back out to the mound. Smith went to the bullpen and closed the game with
Louis Foss (Warner Robins, GA/Houston County), Ryan Ganther (Racine, WI/Racine Lutheran), Eric Jensen (Niles, IL/Niles West)
and J.P. Kulick (Buffalo Grove, IL/H.S.) each hurling a scoreless inning.
Concordia added three runs in the sixth. Skala drove home two runs when his liner got past the diving leftfielder for a double. Pinch-hitter
Tony Barreto (Cicero, IL/Nazareth Academy) singled to left moments later to score Skala. the Cougars' final run came in the seventh scored
on B.J. Weisflog's (Grafton, WI/H.S.) fielder's choice grounder.
With the win, the Cougars will play Benedictine or Aurora tomorrow morning at 10:00. The winner will advance to the championship round where they must win twice to win the tournament championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
