March 9, 2013 - The Concordia Cougars responded well to what has been their only loss of the season thus far, defeating St. Mary's University of Minnesota 7-4 on Saturday afternoon.

The first few innings were played in a light rain and cold temperatures, but the Cougars came out swinging the hot bats. Steve Zubrycki (McHenry, IL/Marian Central Catholic) led off by beating out an infield hit. Robert Weis (Oak Creek, WI/H.S.) then caught the third baseman playing in and ripped a shot past him and down the line. Zubrzycki sprinted all the way around from first for the game's opening run. Before the inning was over, the Cougars added two more run-scoring doubles from Shawn Miller (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) and Derek Binninger (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) to make it a three-run first.

St. Mary's got back one run in the second off of starter C.J. Selner (Milwaukee, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran), but Concordia answered it in the third. Weis legged out an infield hit, stole second, advanced to third on a grounder and scored on Tony Barreto's (Cicero, IL/Nazareth Academy) sacrifice fly.

The Cardinals drew closer in the fourth as they plated two runs on an RBI single and sacrifice fly, but Selner fanned third-place hitter Kevin Gannon with two men aboard to keep Concordia in the lead. The Cougars then made it 5-3 in the bottom of the inning, manufacturing a run on Dan LoDolce's (Northlake, IL/Walther Lutheran) lead-off double and two groundouts with Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) driving home the run.

A leadoff walk in the fifth brought Pat Conlin (Arlington Heights, IL/Rolling Meadows) into the game. Conlin would earn the win, allowing one run over the next three innings while striking out a pair.

Kevin Pawell (Kenosha, WI/Bradford) pitched a scoreless eighth, and the Cougars added an important insurance run in the bottom of the inning. Barreto reached base on an error, and Zach Byron (Dexter, MI/H.S.) replaced him on the basepaths. Byron moved up on a sacrifice by Nick Contorno (Park Ridge, IL/Maine South) and scored with two out when Colin Bethran (Schaumburg, IL/H.S.) slapped a single back up the middle.

Steve Cox (Villa Park, IL/Willowbrook) converted the Cougars' first save situation of the season by hurling a scoreless ninth. He recorded two strikeouts in the inning, including one of pinch-hitter Drew Denning to end the game.

Concordia (6-1) will finish the trip with a 10 a.m. getaway game Sunday morning against Bethany Lutheran College. Southpaw Ryan Thorsen (Lake Villa, IL/Grant Community) will be on the mound, looking to follow up on his win over St. Mary's last Monday.