May 18, 2013 - At the beginning of the 2013 baseball season, Concordia University Chicago head coach Adam Smith listed some of his team's goals as a Northern Athletics Conference championship, both regular-season and tournament, and a return to the NCAA III regionals. The Cougars not only achieved all of the above but also won three games in the Central Regional at Augustana College after going 0-4 in two previous regional appearances. However, a 7-3 loss to Webster University in Saturday's regional championship game prevented the team from the next rung on the ladder, an appearance in the Division III World Series.

"I can't even begin to say how proud I am of this team," said Smith. "They came back from a tough loss on Friday night and had a quick turnaround today in having to beat Augustana a second time to even make it to this game. In the end, we came two innings away from a trip to the World Series. This loss hurts right now, but once we have time to process it, we'll look back and realize what an unbelievable season this was."

Concordia sent Kurt Kempema (Scahumburg, IL/H.S.) to the mound while Webster, looking to earn a repeat visit to Appleton, countered with one of its top two starters in Isaac Behme. Kempema allowed a leadoff double to Cody Stevenson in the bottom of the first but retired the next three batters. The Cougars built on that momentum by scoring the game's first run in their next at-bat. Robert Weis (Oak Creek, WI/H.S.) and Tony Barreto (Cicero, IL/Nazareth Academy) singled to start the rally. Dan LoDolce (Northlake, IL/Walther Lutheran) put down a good sacrifice bunt to advance both runners, and Rich Santarelli's (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) ground ball to shortstop was thrown to first base for the out as Weis came home with a run for the Cougars.

Kempema retired the Gorloks in order in the second, but a single by Ian Foege started Webster in the third. Foege moved up on a sacrifice, went to third on a balk and scored on a wild pitch to tie the score at 1-1.

Foege struck again in the fifth as he led off with a high fly towards the leftfield corner. The ball kept carrying and finally sailed over the fence at about the 340 mark for a go-ahead homer.

Mike Rainbolt led off the sixth with an infield single which spelled the end of the day for Kempema as Louis Foss (Warner Robins, GA/Houston County) took over on the mound. Rainbolt stole second base and then took third as Alex Kazmierski's ground ball in the hole at shortstop was just out of Weis' reach. Foss would get a double play off the bat of Mitchell Bonds, but Rainbolt scored to put the Gorloks up by a 3-1 score.

With time beginning to run out on the Cougars' season, they rallied one last time. Singles by LoDolce and Santarelli started the Cougars' half of the seventh. A force play at third produced the first out, and Webster then went to the bullpen for their other top starter, Steve Dooley (9-2, 2.30). Joe Moran (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame) greeted Dooley with a high chopper to shortstop that he beat out for a single, loading the bases. Dooley came back to get a pop-up for the second out, but Thomas Gier (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) came through with a clutch ground single to right. Santarelli and B.J. Weisflog (Grafton, WI/H.S.) scored to pull the Cougars even at 3-3.

Foss retired the Gorloks in the seventh, and Dooley set down the Cougars in the eighth. Then came the decisive bottom of the eighth as Taylor Stoulp was hit by a 2-2 pitch. With Rainbolt at bat, Stoulp took off for second. The pitch was in the dirt and the rushed throw sailed into centerfield as Stoulp wound up at third base. Rainbolt drew a walk, bringing up Kazmierski, the Gorloks' leading RBI man. Kazmierski got ahead in the count before hammering a 2-0 pitch to the base of the wall in rightfield. By the time the Cougars got the ball back to the infield, Kazmierski was standing at third with a triple and the Gorloks had a 5-3 lead. Charlie Gandolfi followed with a flare into rightfield for a single to score Kazmierski. Webster added a fourth run later in the inning as Foege's squeeze bunt scored Gandolfi.

The Cougars came to bat in the ninth as Dooley looked to put the wraps on Webster's victory. He retired the Cougars in order, getting Moran to fly to center for the final out of a wonderfullly memorable season.

Following the game, Smith remarked on his 39-7 team which posted 16 and 12-game winning streaks along the way, "This was a team that never gave up, never believed it when they were told they couldn't do something. I think that the overall heart and chemistry really defined this year's team, and they really set a standard of excellence for the Concordia-Chicago program."