May 16, 2013 - Concordia University Chicago's second game in the NCAA III Central Regional was not for the faint of heart. Fighting off late inning challenges from #5 Adrian College, the Cougars held on for a 3-2 win this evening at Swanson/Brunner Field in Moline, Illinois.

As was the case in Wednesday night's win over Augustana College, fourth-seeded Concordia took the lead in its initial at-bat. Shawn Miller (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) ripped a double past the third baseman and down the leftfield line with one out. Thomas Gier (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) was hit by the first pitch he saw, and Derek Binninger (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) took four straight balls out of the strike zone to load the bases. Will Randerson (Combined Locks, WI/Kimberly) brought the run home with a high fly to medium-deep centerfield.

C.J. Selner (Milwaukee, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran) got the call on the mound this evening, and the sophomore picked up where he left off in his seven-inning stint against Illinois Wesleyan University back on May 6. This time, Selner hurled 6 2/3 innings while allowing one run on seven hits. A key to Selner's success was issuing no walks, following on the heels of Kluss' no-walk performance the previous night.

Selner also had the help of some strong defense, particularly from shortstop Robert Weis (Oak Creek, WI/H.S.). In the first inning, after a leadoff single, Jamey Sackett hit a wicked shot that short-hopped Weis. But the senior showed off his great reflexes in snaring the ball and starting a 6-4-3 double play. In the fifth, Weis ranged to his right into the hole to field Garrett Green's ground ball, plant his feet and fire a strike over to first base to nip Green by a half-step.

Bulldogs' starter Holden Branch settled down after the first inning and held the Cougars off the scoreboard until the seventh. Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) and Steve Zubrzycki (McHenry, IL/Marian Central Catholic) led off with consecutive singles. Solid fundamentals then led to the run as Joe Moran (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame) got down the sacrifice to move both runners over. Miller followed with a bouncer to the second baseman whose only play was at first as Santarelli scored to make it a 2-0 lead.

Adrian got on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Ben Yax singled with one out and moved up on a ground ball to Santarelli at second. Andrew DeLuca then hit a screamer which was directly at Weis. But the ball took an extremely bad hop just before it got to Weis, and the shortstop did well to avoid taking the rocket directly in the face. While the outfielders chased the ball down, Yax scored and DeLuca moved into second base with the tying run. Selner departed the game in favor of Paul Kukulka (Lake Villa, IL/Lakes Community), and the sophomore fanned Sackett on a 2-2 breaking ball to keep the Cougars in the lead at 2-1.

Concordia responded as they have so many times this season, putting up a score immediately after their opponents. Binninger was hit by reliever Jeff Davis' second pitch, and Randerson slapped a textbook hit-and-run single moments later to put runners on the corners. Nick Contorno (Park Ridge, IL/Maine South) then took a wild breaking ball in the leg to load the bases. The Bulldogs called to the bullpen again, this time for Tommy Eng. Santarelli fell behind 0-2 in the count, but came through with a line shot to center to restore the Cougars' two-run lead. Eng came back to get two infield outs to end the inning and keep the score at 3-1.

The Bulldogs stayed hot on the Cougars' trail in the last of the eighth. With one out, Kukulka walked Sam Fischer and hit Mitch Stefanski. Kukulka came back to strike out Anthony Sergo for out number two, but R.J. Rios dropped a single in front of Moran in rightfield as Fischer scored. That made the score 3-2 and brought Cougars' head coach Adam Smith out of the dugout to summon closer Steve Cox (Villa Park, IL/Willowbrook). Cox held the line as he struck out Yax on a 2-2 pitch to keep it a one-run game entering the ninth.

The Cougars went quickly in the ninth, and Cox returned to the mound to try and nail down the four-out save. He quickly retired pinch-hitter Cody Meyer on a grounder to third base and struck out DeLuca for the second out. But on the first pitch to Sackett, Cox came too far inside and hit the batter. Dan Heatherly worked a full count before tapping one to third. However, the slow bouncer was misplayed and ruled an error while the tying run moved into second. Cox got ahead of Fischer, the Bulldog's leading RBI producer, before inducing a high fly to center. Miller measured it and gloved it to end a thrill ride for Cougar fans.

"C.J. Selner was the story tonight, he was fantastic," said Smith. "All our pitchers did a great job as did our hitters in executing late in the game under pressure. If we continue to do that, we feel that we're in good shape with our pitching for the next few nights, and we're looking forward to getting back out here tomorrow night."

Concordia (38-5), which won its 16th consecutive game tonight, will play at 7:00 tonight for a chance to advance to Saturday's championship round. The Cougars will play the winner of Friday's noon game between Adrian and #1 seed Webster University.