April 30, 2013 - The first true hot and breezy day of the baseball season gave a good indication that today's non-conference game beween Concordia University Chicago and Elmhurst College would give the hitters an advantage over the pitchers. That was the result that played out at Elmhurst's Butterfield Park this afternoon as the Cougars outlasted the Bluejays by a final score of 13-9.

Elmhurst took a 1-0 lead in the first after a leadoff double came in on a ground out and a sacrifice fly. But Concordia struck back in the second. Robert Weis (Oak Creek, WI/H.S.) bunted for a base hit, and Tony Barreto (Cicero, IL/Nazareth Academy) worked a walk on a full count pitch. Both runners moved up on an infield out, and Steve Zubrzycki (McHenry, IL/Marian Central Catholic) lined a single to center that scored the pair for a 2-1 lead.

The lead lasted only a brief time. Brian Marquis led off the Bluejays' second with a double. Luke Collins followed with a two-run homer to centerfield - interestingly, the only homer among the combined 34 hits today.

A Marquis sacrifice fly extended the hosts' lead to 4-2, and the lead held up until the fifth inning. With one out, Zubrzycki beat out a bunt. Joe Moran (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame) then hit a potential double-play ball, but the ball took a bad hop on the shortstop with both batter and runner safe as a result. Shawn Miller (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Thomas Gier (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) then laced a double to the gap in right-center. Zubrzycki and Moran scored easily, and Miller followed as the ball got away momentarily from the rightfielder.

Derek Binninger (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) was next, and he doubled to nearly the identical spot to score Gier. Kyle Huber (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) then singled to leftfield, sending Binninger to third and driving the Elmhurst starting pitcher from the game. Weis greeted the reliever with a first-pitch RBI single to center, and Barreto drew a walk to reload the bases. Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) completed the seven-run uprising with a sharp single to leftfield, bringing home Huber and Weis.

The Bluejays looked to rally in the bottom of the inning. With one out and one on, a bad-hop single put the Bluejays on the attack and brought J.P. Kulick (Buffalo Grove, IL/H.S.) into the game for starter Louis Foss (Warner Robins, GA/Houston County). The Bluejays managed a run on Marquis' single, but Kulick got the Couagrs out of any further damage with the lead holding at 9-5.

Concordia looked to run away with the game in the top of the sixth. After the first two batters were retired, Binninger singled. Huber then doubled to deep centerfield. The relay throw home was in time to nail Binninger, but the Cougars' first baseman was safe when the catcher dropped the ball. That play cost the Bluejays a couple more runs as Weis singled home Huber. A bobble in the outfield allowed Huber to race around to third from where he scored on Will Randerson's (Combined Locks, WI/Kimberly) single.

Elmhurst scored an unearned run in the seventh, only to see Concordia match it in the eighth on Zubrzycki's RBI single. But the Bluejays made a rally in their half of the eighth. Brian Evans drew a leadoff walk and scored on Tyler Wargo's triple to the rightfield fence. Dave Wolak then greeted reliever Kevin Pawell (Kenosha, WI/Bradford) with an RBI double to make it a 13-8 game. A single put runners on the corners. Pawell then got Joe Kennedy to hit a sharp grounder to third. Zubrzycki's throw to second recorded a force, and Santarelli's throw to home caught Wolak in a rundown. However, Randerson's throw back to third was errant, allowing Wolak to score the third run of the inning. The Bluejays eventually loaded the bases to bring the tying run to the plate, but Pawell got Eric Stevenson to hit into a force at third to end the inning.

Elmhurst put a man on base in the ninth, but Concordia ended the game by turning a 6-4-3 double play on Wolak's grounder.

Kulick was credited with the win, hurling 2 2/3 innings and allowing a single unearned run. Weis led the Cougars' 18-hit attack with four hits while Zubrzycki had three hits and three RBIs.

The Cougars (28-5) will host the University of Chicago on Friday afternoon at 3:00.