May 1, 2012 - The Concordia Cougars played their final two home games of the season this afternoon, a doubleheader against Edgewood College that was postponed from three days earlier. A seven-run first inning allowed Edgewood to lead the entire first game en route to an 8-7 win. However, the Cougars dominated the nightcap in defeating the Eagles 10-0 in a game shortened to seven innings.
Nick Skala (Long Grove, IL/St. Viator), one of five seniors honored today, got the Cougars started in game two with his sixth homer of the season, a blast that cleared the leftfield wall. Concordia added more in the first as Anthony Even (Franklin Park, IL/West Leyden) followed with a sharp one-hopper past the third baseman and down the line for a double. Shawn Miller (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) drew a walk, and both runners moved up on an infield out. Dan Eichholzer (Elwood, IL/Joliet Township) then ripped Marc Ostrowski's first pitch back up the middle for a two-run single and a 3-0 lead.
The Cougars doubled their lead in the third. Skala led off with a single, and Even doubled to the gap in left-center with Skala stopping at third. Miller grounder to second scored Skala, and Cam Stephens (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden) reached on an infield single as Even crossed the plate. Eichholzer followed with a shot to deep left-center. The Cougars' rightfielder was thrown out trying to stretch the hit to a triple, but Stephens crossed home plate to make the score Cougars 6, Eagles 0.
Even's bunt single and Miller's double set up the Cougars' next two runs in the fifth. Stephens hit a high chopper to third, and the third baseman elected to throw home. However, Even slid in under the tag to score while Miller moved to third. Eichholzer then hit a fly ball to right in foul territory. The rightfielder made a diving catch for the out while Miller tagged up and scored, putting Concordia up by an 8-0 score.
Miller earned an RBI on the Cougars' ninth run the following inning. With two out and the bases loaded, courtesy of three singles, reliever Zane Medeiros hit Miller with his first pitch to force in Robert Weis (Oak Creek, WI/H.S.).
The Cougars pushed across a run in the seventh to complete the slaughter-rule victory. Eichholzer reached on an infield single. After an out, pinch-hitters Tony Barreto (Cicero, IL/Nazareth Academy) and Joe Angelillo (Oakbrook, IL/Nazareth Academy) drew walks to load the bases. One out later, Skala lined a single just inside the leftfield line to wrap up the Cougars' victory.
Dan Kluss (Niles, IL/Niles West) had little trouble in earning the win and improving to 6-1 on the year. The sophomore righthander held Edgewood hitless until Ryan O'Dell's one-out single in the fifth. Kluss would allow just one more hit, and that was erased on a 6-4-3 double play. He then finished his six-inning stint by striking out Zach Creekmore. Steve Cox (Villa Park, IL/Willowbrook) pitched the seventh and escaped a two-out jam by getting Sean Thompson to pop up to second.
The Cougars' second-game win was finished in a brisk 1:50, compared to a longer battle in game one. The first inning took over 30 minutes to play, ending with the Eagles leading 7-4. Edgewood took advantage of two errors to do their damage, all of the runs counting as unearned against starter Brenden Schulz (Kenosha, WI/Bradford). The big blows came with two out, a two-run double by Thompson and a three-run homer by Jake Thome.
A single by Schulz and a wind-aided double by Skala started the Cougars on the comeback trail. Even's single and Miller's fielder's choice brought the first two runs home. A walk to Eichholzer extended the inning, and Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) and Rob Fioravanti (Evergreen Park, IL/H.S.) delivered two-out RBI singles to cut the Eagles' lead to three.
The Eagles scored what would prove to be the winning run in the second. With one out, a hit batsman and single put two runners aboard. They moved up on a wild pitch, and Jake Zadra's grounder to short accounted for the tally.
Concordia began to chip away in the third. A double by Stephens and single by Santarelli made the score 8-5. Miller led off the fifth with his first homer of the season, a shot to leftfield. The score became 8-7 in the seventh as singles by Eichholzer and Santarelli put runners on the corners. Fioravanti's grounder to third was then bobbled by the third baseman as Eichholzer scored.
To this point, the Cougars had done all of their scoring in the odd-numbered innings, and they nearly pulled it off again in the ninth. With one out, Eichholzer reached on a throwing error by the second baseman. Santarelli hit the next pitch to rightfield for a single. Fioravanti flew to right for the second out, but Weis drew a walk on a full count to load the bases.
Schulz took a first-pitch strike and then ripped the next pitch past the first baseman, but the ball went foul just before going past the bag. Schulz took one more shot at rightfield and hit the 0-2 pitch to short rightfield. Brad Clark got a good break on the ball, diving to make the catch at shoetop level and denying Concordia the tying and winning runs.
The Cougars (28-10, 15-5 NAC) will conclude the regular-season schedule this Saturday with a doubleheader against the Milwaukee School of Engineering. First pitch at Henry Aaron Field in Milwaukee is at 1 p.m.
