Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 April 6, 2014 - Far from being a day of rest, this Sunday was a long and arduous one for the Concordia-Chicago baseball team. A long bus ride to central Wisconsin took the Cougars to their date with conference rival Marian University. The hours stretched out even further as game one went 13 innings but, at the end of the day, the time and effort were worth it as the Cougars won 4-3 and 3-0 to extend their winning streak to 14 games and improve to 18-2 on the season.

For the second straight game, the Cougars were faced with an uphill battle from the beginning as they fell behind early. Marian scored a run in the first inning and added a pair in their next at-bat. However, Concordia made its comeback in the fourth inning as Steve Zubrzycki (McHenry, IL/Marian Central Catholic) led off with a single. Zubrzycki was at third base two out later when Dan Eichholzer (Elwood, IL/Joliet West) slapped a single up the middle for the Cougars' first run. Kyle Huber (Chicago, IL/Lane Tech) followed with his first homer of the season, a two-run blast to rightfield that pulled the Cougars even at 3-3.

Huber's blast would end the scoring until the 13th inning as the pitching took over. CUC starter Dan Kluss (Niles, IL/Niles West) pitched six innings, allowing three runs (two earned). He was followed by Kevin Pawell (Kenosha, WI/Bradford) who hurled 2 2/3 innings. Pawell was followed in turn by Steve Cox (Villa Park, IL/Willowbrook), Robert Lock (Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius) and Jordan Tharp (Cullom, IL/Tri-Point) who combined to close the door on the Sabres for the remainder of the contest.

Tharp earned his first collegiate win as the Cougars pushed across a run in the top of the 13th inning. Eichholzer singled after one out and advanced to third on Huber's double. Brent Spohr (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community) then lifted a fly ball to leftfield deep enough to score Eichholzer with the tie-breaking tally.

In game two, the Cougars turned the tables by taking the early lead. Will Polley (River Forest, IL/Oak Park-River Forest) led off the second inning with a base hit. Two outs later, Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) was hit by a pitch, and Eric Jensen (Niles, IL/Niles West) reached on an infield single to load the bases. Colin Bethran (Schaumburg, IL/H.S.) then broke the ice with a ground single to leftfield, scoring Polley and Santarelli for the 2-0 lead. Concordia-Chicago added another run in the fourth on consecutive singles by Huber, Spohr and Santarelli.

The early support was all that Ryan Thorsen (Lake Villa, IL/Grant Community) needed to record his third win of the season. Thorsen hurled six near-spotless innings, allowing only a fourth-inning single to Jordan DeBoer. Pawell came into the game in the seventh and followed up his earlier effort with three more innings if relief work. Pawell allowed just two hits and earned his third save of the season to close out a long but ultimately satisfying day.

Concordia-Chicago returns to action on Saturday when they host Edgewood College in a noon doubleheader.