Moran's Magical Day Lets Cougars Maul Maroons

May 3, 2013 - A career day by Concordia senior Joe Moran (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame) sparked the Cougar baseball team to a 14-4 win over the University of Chicago in non-conference play on a cold and drizzly day in River Forest.

Moran went 5-5 with a walk but, interestingly enough, the Cougars' leadoff man did not score any of the 14 runs. Instead, Moran drove in a career-high six runs in helping the Cougars to put up double-digit runs for the eleventh time this season.

The Maroons took the early lead as a single by J.R. Lopez and double by Brett Huff would come around to score on a pair of infield outs. But the Cougars evened the score in the bottom of the second. Tony Barreto (Cicero, IL/Nazareth Academy) doubled and scored on Steve Zubrzycki's (McHenry, IL/Marian Central Catholic) two-out single to right. Zubrzycki took second base on the throw home and scored moments later on Moran's first hit of the day, a line single to right.

Concordia took the lead in the fourth. A pair of Maroons' errors put two runners aboard with two out. Moran cashed in the opportunity with his second RBI single in as many trips to make the score Cougars 3, Maroons 2.

A five-run fifth helped the Cougars to open up the lead. They loaded the bases with no out, and Robert Weis' (Oak Creek, WI/H.S.) smash through the left side produced one run. Rich Santarelli's (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) infield hit accounted for the second run of the inning. With two out and the sacks still loaded, Moran came up for his fourth plate appearance. Moran caught the outfielders playing in and ripped a shot into the gap in left-center. The ball rolled all the way to the fence as all three runners came around to score and increase the lead to 8-2.

Chicago cut into the Cougars' lead with two runs in the sixth, but Dan Kluss (Niles, IL/Niles West) was able to work his way out of the bases-loaded jam. Kluss finished his six-inning stint allowing four runs on eight hits and would improve to 6-1 on the season. Kevin Pawell (Kenosha, WI/Bradford) pitched the seventh and eighth innings, holding the Maroons at bay.

The Cougars locked up the game with a six-run outburst in the eighth helped out by some shaky Maroons' fielding. Thomas Gier (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) and Derek Binninger (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) singled and would come around to score on singles by Kyle Huber (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) and Weis. An error at second base brought another run home, and run-scoring hits by Dan LoDolce (Northlake, IL/Walther Lutheran) and Moran followed. Momets later with the bases loaded, Shawn Miller (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) hit a ground ball to third. A force at the plate was in line, but the throw came well wide of the plate on the first base side, and Santarelli scored to make the margin 10 runs and bring the game to an end.