April 17, 2014 - The Concordia Cougars took a one-day break from a busy stretch of Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference games to take on Wheaton College this evening. The Cougars allowed the Thunder no chance of ending their winning streak as they hit the home team with four runs in their initial at-bat and rolled to a 9-1 win at Lee Pfund Stadium in Carol Stream.

A leadoff single by Steve Zubrzycki (McHenry, IL/Marian Central Catholic) and walk to Dan Eichholzer (Elwood, IL/Joliet West) set the stage early. Carlos Olavarria (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden) ripped a double to score Zubrzycki and give the visitors a quick 1-0 lead.

Eichholzer came home on a wild pitch for the second run of the inning. Will Randerson (Combined Locks, WI/Kimberly) drove home a third run with a sacrifice fly, and Dan Lo Dolce (Northlake, IL/Walther Lutheran) singled home Will Polley (River Forest, IL/Oak Park-River Forest) to make it a 4-0 lead.

The early outburst was more than enough for CUC freshman pitcher Cody Caballero (Lemont, IL/H.S.). The southpaw earned his second win of the season with seven innings of quality work. Caballero threw an economical 79 pitches and allowed just one run on five hits while striking out seven. 

Concordia used the long ball to add on to their lead. Olavarria went deep to lead off the third, depositing a 3-2 pitch just over the wall in left. In the fifth, Kyle Huber (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) hit a towering shot to rightfield with Polley aboard for a 7-0 lead.

Wheaton came back to score its lone run in the bottom of the fifth, but Concordia put the final two runs of the game on the board in the sixth and ninth innings. Second baseman Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) had a hand in both tallies. He led off the sixth with an infield single and eventually scored on Zubrzycki's single. Santarelli drove in the final run with a base hit that scored Olavarria.

"I felt that tonight might have been our best overall effort of the season," said CUC head coach Adam Smith. "Pitching, hitting and defense were all solid, starting with an outstanding effort on the mound by Cody. We're excited to get this win tonight and now look ahead to a big four days of conference action starting with Dominican on Saturday,"

The Cougars (21-2) will host their neighborhood rival Dominican University on Saturday for a noon doubleheader.