March 14, 2015 - The Concordia-Chicago baseball team's weekend in Tucson, Arizona has been a test of endurance with a total of 32 innings in three games and two very late nights at the Kino Sports Complex. Today's action consisted of an afternoon game against #21-ranked Linfield College and a night game against Augsburg College which saw the Cougars go 1-1 and finish the day at 6-5 overall.

The day game against Linfield saw the game turn on an eight-run bottom of the fifth inning for the Wildcats, and they went on to a 13-7 victory. Trailing 4-1 in the top of the fifth, the Cougars scored with two out when Thomas Gier (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) scored on Kevin Coppin's (Lisle, IL/H.S.) double down the leftfield line. When the throw to home plate bounced away and up on the backstop, Coppin was allowed to score, putting the Cougars within a run.

However, the Wildcats blew the game wide open as they rapped out seven hits in their half of the inning. Two errors also figured in the scoring as six of the runs were unearned. The Cougars fought back with two runs in the sixth and two in the seventh, but the mountain was too high to cllimb as CUC eventually lost by six.

The Cougars returned to Kino about four hours later to take on Augsburg and, this time, it was CUC that enjoyed the benefit of an eight-run inning in a 13-6 win in 11 innings. A perfect bunt by Joe Silva (Arlington Heights, IL/Hersey) gave CUC a 1-0 first-inning lead for starter Eric Palmer (Melrose Park, IL/West Leyden). Palmer escaped a first-inning jam and then retired the first two batters in the second before having to leave the game, Freshman Alex Meyers (Edwardsville, IL/H.S.) came on in relief, and he would play the unsung hero's role for the Cougars in pitching 6 1/3 solid innings.

Augsburg touched Meyers for the tying run in the fifth, but CUC answered over the next two innings. In the sixth, Silva led off with a double and scored when Doug Matthews' (Lockport, IL/Lockport Township) fly to deep right was dropped. Matthews wound up on third, and he scored when Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) smashed a single up the middle. In the seventh, a triple by Colin Bethran (Schaumburg, IL/H.S.) and double by Steve Zubrzycki (McHenry, IL/Marian Central Catholic) propelled Concordia-Chicago back into the lead, and a double by Silva made it a 5-1 game.

The Eagles got one run back on a sacrifice fly in the seventh and then took advantage of two Cougar errors in the eighth to score a pair and make it a 5-4 game. In the ninth, freshman Brian Musielak (Chicago, IL/Brother Rice) came in to close, but he was the victim of some bad luck as the Eagles used two bloop hits, a single and double, to tie the game.

Musielak retired the side in order in the tenth before the Cougars went to work in their next at-bat. Matthews and Santarelli started the inning with bse hits and, one out later, pinch-hitter Coppin walked to load the bases. Zubrzycki then hit a chopper to the right side of the infield. The first baseman cut across to glove the ball, but his momentum kept him from making a play at the plate as Matthews scored the go-ahead run. Mitch Wilson (Oswego, IL/H.S.) then hit a high hopper over the first baseman's head as two more runs came across. Carlos Olavarria (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden) was intentionally walked to load the bases and set up a possible double play. However, the strategy backfired on Augsburg as Silva was walked and Gier hit by a pitch to force in runs. Matthews then put a lock on this game as his double to the gap in left-center scored a pair of runs. Santarelli's RBI grounder to first base closed out the Cougars' eight spot. The Eagles scored a consolation tally in the bottom of the inning, but Musielak (1-1) got Rhett Hebig to ground to third base for the final out and close out a 3 1/2 hour game/

The Cougars will play a Sunday morning game against Macalester College before heading back to Chicago.