May 11, 2013 - For the second time in two years and third in the last five, the Concordia University Chicago Cougars have earned a trip to the NCAA III Baseball Regionals. They accomplished the feat by defeating Wisconsin Lutheran College 9-0 in the championship game of the Northern Athletics Conference tournament this evening and completing a 4-0 run through the tournament.

Senior Ryan Thorsen (Lake Villa, IL/Grant Community) drew the starting assignment for the Cougars. The southpaw allowed a leadoff hit to Garrick Day who subsequently stole second base. However, Thorsen bore down and retired the next three batters. In the second, Doug Martin reached on a single off Thorsen's glove, but the Cougars turned a nifty 5-4-3 double play moments later to erase the runner.

Meanwhile, the Cougars notched single runs in each of the first two innings off of Jared Pfeifer. Joe Moran (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame) led off the first with a walk and promptly stole second. Shawn Miller's (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) fly to right sent Moran to third from where he scored on Derek Binninger's (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) bloop single to center.

In the second, Will Randerson (Combined Locks, WI/Kimberly) lifted a fly ball to right-center. The two outfielders converged on the ball, but it fell between them as Randerson dashed all the way to third base. Pfeifer came back to record the first out, but when Steve Zubrzycki's (McHenry, IL/Marian Central Catholic) smash to third base forced the fielder to dive for the ball, the only play was at first base. Randerson came home to give Concordia a 2-0 lead.

Thorsen and Pfeifer then matched zeroes until the sixth inning. With one out, Randerson beat out a slow grounder to first base. Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) then hit a liner which handcuffed the second baseman, putting two men aboard. Zubrzycki singled up the middle, scoring Randerson while the other two runners moved up on the throw. Moran then bounced one to shortstop, but Santarelli made a quick break off of third. The only out was at first base while the run scored to make it 4-0.

The icing on the cake came as Concordia batted 11 men in the eighth and scored five times. Miller singled home a pair of runs to make it a six-run bases. The Cougars then loaded the bases, adding runs on a Binninger hit by pitch, walk to Nick Contorno (Park Ridge, IL/Maine South) and single by Robert Weis (Oak Creek, WI/H.S.).

Thorsen came out for the ninth, still under 100 pitches for the game. With one out, the Warriors looked to avert the shutout as Sam Mattheis singled and Brett Youngbeck drew WLC's only walk of the game. But Thorsen's 1-1 pitch to Tyler Schoen, his 103rd of the game, was bounced to second base. Santarelli fielded the ball, stepped on second and threw to Binninger for the game-ending double play as the Cougars and their fans began the celebration.

"What can you say about Thorsen - he was amazing," said Cougar head coach Adam Smith. "He had a great bullpen before the game and said he was ready to go. What an effort in that situation!"

The win also gave the Cougars a 14-game winning streak and a new season-record for wins with 36. It also marked the second time that the Cougars won both the NAC regular-season championship and the tournament title. Concordia will find out its regional assignment on Monday morning at 9 a.m. with the first game coming either Wednesday or Thursday.