Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 March 8, 2014 - It's safe to say that the weather in Tucson, Arizona this week has been more favorable to the hitters than the pitchers. But there is still no easy way to explain the last 24 hours in the Concordia-Chicago baseball team's week. The Cougars tangled with St. Olaf College today at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium in a doubleheader following yesterday's big loss to the University of St. Thomas. Game one saw the Cougars still in a bit of a funk from that loss, and St. Olaf took advantage with a 10-6 win. Game two saw the Cougars give up a 6-0 lead, but this time the CUC bats responded in grand fashion as they roared back to take a 21-12 victory and gain a split.
In game one, the Cougars grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first as Brent Spohr (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community) singled home Steve Zubrzycki (McHenry, IL/Marian Central Catholic). But the Oles came back with three runs in the third and then poured it on with six in the fourth to go up 9-1. The Cougars did not quit, as solid relief work from Robert Lock (Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius) and Will Polley (River Forest, IL/Oak Park-River Forest) held down the Oles. Concordia made its charge as they scored five runs on seven hits, all singles. Kyle Huber's (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) base hit scored Zubrzycki to make the score 9-6, but Joey Voss came out of the SOC bullpen to get the third out. Voss would allow only one hit over the final 2 1/3 innings to record the save, and the Oles added an unearned run as insurance to take the opener. After a second frustrating loss, the Cougar hitters came out on a mission to start game two. Huber's two-run double gave CUC the early lead, and an infield out brought in a third run. In the second, Dan Eichholzer's (Elwood, IL/Joliet West) two-run double made it 5-0, and Thomas Gier (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) made it 6-0 on a double that just missed going out of the yard. Jordan Tharp (Cullom, IL/Tri-Point) pitched three scoreless innings in his debut, but the Oles got to the freshman in the fourth. Chris Paradise had the big hit in the inning, a triple to the rightfield corner as the Oles plated six of their seven runs after two were out. Jack Schechinger's single off reliever Polley plated the go-ahead run, but Huber and Doug Matthews (Crest Hill, IL/Lockport Township) teamed up to nail the trailing runner at the plate, and the Cougars came to bat in the fifth trailing 7-6. The deficit lasted only a moment as Carlos Olavarria (Rosemont, IL/West Leyden) golfed the very first pitch into the Cougar bullpen in left for his first homer in the new uniform. The next three hitters reached base and, after one out, Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) hit a liner to center to give the Cougars the lead again at 8-7. Before the inning was over, the Cougars would score six more runs with the assistance of a couple of SOC errors, and Concordia led 14-7 at the midway point of the game. St. Olaf came back with three in the fifth, but CUC matched it in the sixth. Olavarria singled home a run prior to the strangest play of the day. With the bases loaded and two out, Huber hit a pop-up about 30 feet from home plate. The catcher and a couple of infielders all converged on it, but the ball fell between all of them just inside the line as two runs scored on the fluke double.
Concordia put this game away with a run in the seventh and three in the eighth. Two of those came home on a double by Huber and a triple by Randerson. Huber's hit gave him a 4-4 game with five RBIs. The Oles completed the scoring with a pair of runs in the ninth.
Polley earned the win in relief with 1 1/3 innings of work. Kevin Pawell (Kenosha, WI/Bradford) pitched the final four innings and earned his second save of the week. The Cougars (5-2) will rematch with St. Thomas on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Chicago time before heading to the airport. Kurt Kempema (Schaumburg, IL/H.S.) will make his first start after earning the win against St. Mary's University earlier in the week.
