Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
April 12, 2015 - With about three weeks to go in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference season, the Concordia-Chicago baseball team is returning to its run-scoring ways that have characterized the last couple of seasons. The Cougars hosted Wisconsin Lutheran College in doubleheader action this afternoon and completed a 4-0 weekend in which they scored 49 runs with a 13-7and 8-3 sweep of the Warriors. The wins gave CUC its season-high winning streak of four games and improved the record to 16-12 overall, 8-2 (tie for first place) in NACC play.

Eric Palmer (Melrose Park, IL/West Leyden) earned his first win in a Cougar uniform in the opener. The senior pitched five innings and allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Palmer received good offensive support in the early going, beginning in the first when Brendan Klein (St. Charles, MO/Lutheran St. Charles) drew a leadoff walk and later scored on Carlos Olavarria's (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden) single up the middle. The score became 2-0 when Doug Matthews (Crest Hill, IL/Lockport Township) hit his first homer of the year, third of his career, with a Towering blast over the fence in centerfield.

Wisconsin Lutheran plated two runs in the third to tie the game, but the deadlock did not last long. A hit batsman and an error set up the Cougars in the third, and Brent Spohr's (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community) grounder to second scored Joe Silva (Arlington Heights, Hersey) with the go-ahead run. Later in the inning, Matthews singled home a run, and a second run scored when the throw from the outfield sailed high over the third baseman's head and into the dugout. Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) then singled home Matthews, and the Cougars held a 6-2 lead heading into the fourth.

The Warriors scored once in the fifth, but the Cougars began their half of the fifth with three consecutive hits. Matthews batted in his third and fourth runs of the game with a single to left, and a pair of groundouts scored Matthews to make the score CUC 9, WLC 3.

The visitors made things a little tense in the seventh as they put four on the board in the seventh, highlighted by a two-run homer by Connor Vredeveld. The lead was down to 9-7 but, as they have done so often in the past few seasons, CUC answered immediately with a rally of its own. Mitch Wilson (Oswego, IL/H.S.) led off and showed his power by inside-outing a pitch and taking the ball over the fence in left-center for his second homer of his rookie season. Following a walk and a base hit, Will Randerson (Combined Locks, WI/Kimberly) tagged a ball to rightfield and just missed a homer, his ball hitting halfway up the fence for a two-run double. Later in the inning, with Randerson on third and Klein on first, the two runners got a tremendous break on the pitcher's delivery, and Randerson easily stole home to complete the four-run inning and make the final score 13-7. Rob Lock (Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius) finished out the game, hurling three innings for the Cougars' first save of the season.

Freshman Mike Formella (Homer Glen, IL/Lockport Township) took the mound for the Cougars in game two and hurled six shutout innings in improving to 3-0. Formella did not allow a hit until two out in the fifth on Vredeveld's clean single between the center and rightfielders. He finished his stint allowing four hits and five walks and left the game with a 7-0 lead.

Klein got the offense started in the first inning as he was hit by a pitch. The sophomore stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Silva's grounder to second. Klein made it a 3-0 lead in the next inning as he ripped a double past the third baseman and down the line to score Santarelli and catcher Kevin Coppin (Lisle, IL/H.S.). Olavarria then singled with two out to score Klein for a four-run lead.

The Cougars looked to put the game out of reach as they came to bat in the fifth. Three straight hits by Silva, Olavarria and Spohr produced a run. Wilson's sacrifice fly brought home a second run. Matthews followed with a blast to deep center, but he was denied extra bases as Vredeveld made an outstanding catch near the warning track with his back to home plate. However, that only delayed another run momentarily, as Santarelli followed with a run-scoring single to left for a 7-0 lead.

Wisconsin Lutheran put together another seventh-inning rally, taking advantage of some wildness by the CUC bullpen. Three walks put the Warriors in business, and a balk put the first run on the board.  Run-scoring singles by Sam Matthies and Brock Vredeveld made it a 7-3 game, but Matt McTague (Skokie, IL/Niles North) was able to shut the door on further damage. The Cougars added the final tally of the day in the eighth as Silva singled and scored on Olavarria's double to the leftfield corner.

Concordia-Chicago resumes play next weekend with two more NACC twinbills. The Cougars will play Dominican University on Saturday at Boomers Stadium in Schaumburg. The tea, returns home next Sunday to tangle with Aurora University.