April 21, 2014 - Today's baseball twinbill between the Concordia Cougars and the host Aurora Spartans saw two big storylines unfold under cloudy skies at Aurora's Solfisburg Park. Game one saw Concordia's Dan Kluss (Niles, IL/Niles West) come within three outs of a no-hitter before finishing with a two-hit shutout as the Cougars won 7-0. Game two saw the Cougars' record 20-game winning streak come to an end as Aurora jumped out to an early lead and salvaged the split with a 7-4 victory.

In speaking of Kluss' effort in game one, CUC head coach Adam Smith said that "Danny was unbelievable today. He was at least as good as last May when he beat Augustana College in the regional. It would have been great to get the no-hitter, but the victory was the main thing."

Concordia's hitters gave Kluss the lead in the third inning. With two outs and Steve Zubrzycki (McHenry, IL/Marian Central Catholic) on first, Will Polley (River Forst, IL/Oak Park-River Forest) lined a double to the gap. Kyle Huber (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) followed with a single to right, scoring both runners for a 2-0 lead.

The lead doubled in the fourth when Zubrzycki led off with a two-bagger. Dan Eichholzer (Elwood, IL/Joliet West) then went deep for homer number four of the season.

Zubrzycki singled home a run in the seventh for a 5-0 lead, and the Cougars closed out the scoring in the ninth on a throwing error by Aurora's catcher and an RBI single by Eichholzer.

The only drama remaining in the game ended with Kluss' first pitch in the bottom of the ninth. Dillon Popovich lined it into leftfield for a clean single and the hosts' first hit of the day. Jared Swain followed with a single up the middle, but Kluss struck out the next two batters and got Ryan Rybakowski to hit one in the air to second baseman Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian). Kluss finished his masterpiece with 11 strikeouts

In game two, Zubrzycki got the Cougars off to a 1-0 lead as he singled on the second pitch of the game and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly to short rightfield by Carlos Olavarria (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden). But Aurora evened the score in their at-bat on a two-out single by Rafer Cooley.

Aurora gained control of the game with two runs in the third and four in the fourth. The Spartans went long ball in the fourth, getting back-to-back homers by Popovich (a two-run shot) and Swain.

Concordia would not see their streak end without a fight as they scored three runs in the sixth to close to within 7-4.  Olavarria doubled home a run, and Polley and Huber drove in runs with infield grounders. But the Spartans' bullpen would hold the Cougars hitless over the final three innings to seal the deal and hand CUC its first loss in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play.

"It was good to come back and make a game of it, but we just fell into too deep of a hole," said Smith. "You can't win them all, and we'll just look to get back on track tomorrow."

The Cougars (24-3, 11-1 NACC) will make up a twice-postponed doubleheader with Wisconsin Lutheran College tomorrow at Neumann Family Field in Milwaukee.