May 9, 2013 - The Concordia University Chicago Cougars used a record-setting pitching performance by junior Dan Kluss (Niles, IL/Niles West) in defeating sixth-seeded Wisconsin Lutheran College 6-3 to open up the 2013 Northern Athletics Conference baseball tournament at Kapco Park in Mequon, Wisconsin.

Kluss fanned 14 batters in improving to 7-1 on the season. He set the NAC tournament record of strikeouts for a single-game, surpassing Fabian Gomez of Rockford College who whiffed 13 Marian University batters back on May 11, 2007.

The righthander worked out of a couple of mini-jams in the early innings. Wisconsin Lutheran's leadoff hitter Garrick Day was hit on the very first pitch of the game and stole second base. However, Kluss came back to retire the next three batters, two via strikes. In the second, a two-out error put a man on second base but Kluss struck out Korben Biersack for his fifth punchout.

The Cougars stranded three baserunners over the first three innings but broke through against WLC starter Jaime Paumen in the fourth. Derek Binninger (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) led off with a sharp single to left. Kyle Huber (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) drew a walk, and Robert Weis (Oak Creek, WI/H.S.) beat out a bunt single in front of the pitcher's mound to load the bases.

Will Randerson (Combined Locks, WI/Kimberly) then stepped to the plate, and he wasted no time in pulling Paumen's first pitch down the rightfield line for a two-run double, weis advancing to third. Dan LoDolce (Northlake, IL/Walther Lutheran) sacrifice fly to right then made it a three-run inning as Weis scored.

In the fifth, Joe Moran's (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame) leadoff walk turned into the Cougars' fourth run. With Shawn Miller (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) at bat, Moran broke for second. Miller lined the 0-2 pitch down the rightfield line to the corner. Moran scored easily on Miller's double for a 4-0 lead.

The Warriors came back in the sixth to make a game of it. Connor Vredeveld's leadoff hit and a walk to Garrick Day brought WLC's leading hitter Aaron Roeseler to the plate. Roeseler lined a 1-1 pitch to left. The ball got down in front of Huber and took a turf bounce over his head. The ball rolled to the wall for a triple as both runners came around to score. Roeseler then scored on Sam Mattheis' grounder to first to make the score Cougars 4, Warriors 3.

Concordia came back with two runs in the bottom half. Weis led off with a single and went to third when the throw to second on Randerson's ground ball sailed into leftfield. LoDolce walked to load the bases. Zubrzycki's chopper to third was turned into a force at the plate for the first out, but Moran singled to right to score Randerson and move the other runners up 90 feet.

The second run scored on one of the more bizarre plays of the season. The Warriors' third baseman fielded Miller's chopper and threw to the catcher for the force at home. LoDolce was called out, but the catcher tried to tag LoDolce. The ball was kicked out of the catcher's glove and bounced toward the first-base dugout. Zubrzycki came around to score from second, although Moran tried to follow Zubrzycki and was tagged out at the plate with Paumen fielding the catcher's throw.

That play would complete the scoring for the game. Kluss saw a leadoff walk in the seventh erased by a 4-6-3 double play. He allowed a single in the eighth and a two-out walk in the ninth but came back to retire Brandon Mantz on a pop to shortstop and close out a great mound performance.

The top-seeded Cougars (33-5) will advance to tonight's 7:00 game against #4 Rockford College. Links to live coverage of the game are at www.cucougars.com.