March 23, 2013 - With the unseasonably cold weather lingering in the Midwest and wiping out Concordia-Chicago's scheduled weekend home series with the College of St. Scholastica, the Cougars went to "Plan B" and scheduled a single game this afternoon with North Park University. The two schools engaged in a competitive contest on the artificial surface of NPU's Holmgren Sports Complex with the Cougars prevailing 4-3 and improving to 10-1 on the season.

A pair of season debuts sparked the Cougars to victory. Pitcher Bobby Beelen (Wheeling, IL/H.S.), 7-2 with a 3.08 ERA last season, earned the win in his first start of 2012. The southpaw pitched six innings plus one batter in the seventh, allowing two runs on four hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Newcomer Joe Moran (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame), a transfer from Augustana College who did not play in 2012, got the start in leftfield, reached base three times (two hits and a walk) and scored two runs.

Moran scored the first run in the Cougars' half of the second inning. He beat out a grounder behind third base, moved up on a wild pitch and stole third base. Derek Binninger (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) then lifted a fly to rightfield, and Moran beat the throw home easily for the 1-0 lead.

Thomas Gier (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) led off the fourth with a single to center off Vikings' ace Nick Soldano. Moran followed with a hit to left. Gier moved up to third on a wild pitch, and Binninger poked a single past the first baseman to score Gier for a two-run lead.

The Vikings got on the board in the bottom of the fourth as Dan Sabin and Eric Sousanes singled. Both runners moved up on a sacrifice, but Beelen got the next two batters to ground out, limiting the damage to one run.

Concordia added to its lead with single runs in the fifth and sixth. Steve Zubrzycki (McHenry, IL/Marian Central Catholic) led off the fifth with a base hit, moved up on a passed ball and scored on Robert Weis' (Oak Creek, WI/H.S.) single to center. In the sixth, a leadoff walk to Moran led to a manufactured tally. Binninger singled with Moran moving to second. Tony Barreto (Cicero, IL/Nazareth Academy) sacrificed the runners over, and Dan Lo Dolce (Northlake, IL/Walther Lutheran) scored Moran on a sacrifice fly that would have gone for a two-run single if not for a great diving catch by the rightfielder.

Jeff Paulson's single leading off the bottom of the seventh ended a string of 10 in a row retired by Beelen and brought the Cougar bullpen into the game. Dan Kluss (Niles, IL/Niles West) made a rare appearance in relief and retired Joe Belmonte on a fly to left. However, a tough error on the next play allowed pinch-runner Nathan Clarke to score for a 4-2 game. A two-out RBI single by Michael Kane allowed the unearned tally to cross the plate and make it a one-run game, but Kevin Pawell (Kenosha, WI/Bradford) stranded the tying and go-ahead runs on base as he retired cleanup batter Kyle Williams on a grounder to short.

North Park put the leadoff man on base in the eighth, but Barreto made one of the biggest defensive plays of the game as he gunned down pinch-runner Connor Sarrant trying to steal. Sousanes drew a walk, but Pawell slipped a third strike past Dan Anderson for the second out. Righthander Steve Cox (Villa Park, IL/Willowbrook) then entered the game and picked Sousanes off of first base to end the inning. Cox then wrapped up his third save of the season with a scoreless ninth, stranding the tying run on third base by striking out Zak Worsley for the final out.

Concordia is scheduled to open Northern Athletics Conference play next Saturday, March 30 with a doubleheader at Benedictine University. The first home games will take place Monday, April 1 against Rockford College.