Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 April 18, 2015 - It took a while for the Concordia Cougars to hit their stride in Saturday's Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doublehader at Boomers Stadium in Schaumburg. But once the Cougars found their offensive rhythm, they kept going and did not look back as they swept Dominican University by scores of 6-3 and 16-4, the latter game shortened to seven innings. The wins, coupled with Benedictine University's doubleheader loss to Edgewood College, moved CUC into sole possession of first place in the NACC with a 10-2 record (18-12 overall).

Freshman Adam Schmitt (Bartonville, IL/Limestone) started game one for the Cougars and pitched six strong innings, allowing four hits. However, the Stars collected three of those hits in the third as they grabbed a 2-0 lead. Schmitt did minimize the damage as he got a 4-6-3 double play, although the Stars scored their second run on the play. Dominican added their third run in the following inning on a wild pitch.

Quinn Milne Rojek, Schmitt's mound counterpart, silenced the CUC bats on just two hits over the first six innings. However, the Cougars got on the board in the seventh as Will Randerson (Combined Locks, WI/Kimberly) and Steve Zubrzycki (McHenry, IL/Marian Central) singled with one out. Milne Rojek retired the next batter on a fly ball for the second out, but Joe Silva (Arlington Heights, IL/Hersey) ripped the first pitch he saw into centerfield for a base hit, cutting the Cougars' deficit to 3-1.

The Cougars were back at it in the eighth as Brent Spohr (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community) led off with a double and scored on a one-out single by Doug Matthews (Crest Hill, IL/Lockport Township). Matthews moved to third base on Rich Santarelli's (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) base hit and scored the tying run on Randerson's groundout to second base.

Feeling all the momentum on their side after Kurt Kempema (Schaumburg, IL/H.S.) shut down the Stars in the seventh and eighth innings, The Cougars seized game one in the top of the ninth. Silva was hit by a pitch with one out and would move around to score on a wild pitch. Carlos Olavarria (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden), who reached base on a walk, stole second and scored on Spohr's single to right. The final run scored as pinch-runner Kevin Garvey (Brookfield, IL/Riverside-Brookfield) stole second and third before crossing the plate on a wild pitch. 

The Cougars' run of scoring continued unabated in game two as they scored in six of their seven at-bats, failing only in the third inning. Concordia-Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the first as Kevin Coppin (Lisle, IL/H.S.) was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on Olavarria's single. After the Stars tied it in the first, the Cougars added four in the second, beginning with Coppin's bases-loaded walk forcing in a run. Olavarria's grounder to second knocked in another run, and Spohr's base hit scored Coppin with Silva following across the plate as the outfielder mishandled the ball.

Cocnordia-Chicago resumed scoring in the fourth as RBI singles by Coppin and Spohr put the lead at 7-1. Dominican plated two in the bottom of the fourth, but CUC got those back in the fifth as Silva doubled in a pair to make it a 9-3 game. The Cougars then put up a second four-spot in the sixth with Matthews' double accounting for two runs. The other two runs in the inning scored on a wild pitch and a double play. 

A couple of the younger players got into the act in the seventh. After the Cougars scored a run on an error, Joey Anderson (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield East) and Petar Arbov (Elk Grove, IL/H.S.) rapped out hits with Arbov's pushing across a run. Thomas Gier's (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) base hit brought home the final run for CUC, while Dominican scored in the bottom of the seventh to make the final score Cougars 16, Stars 4.

Cody Caballero (Lemont, IL/H.S.) improved to 5-1 on the season with a five-inning effort in which he allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits. Nick Barnhill (Normal, IL/Normal West) and Rob lock (Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius) followed out of the bullpen with one inning each of work.

The Cougars will host Aurora University on Sunday with the first game of the doubleheader starting at 1:00.