April 26, 2015 – The Concordia-Chicago Cougars returned to action today to begin a stretch of five games in three days. Today's action took the Cougars to The Rock Sports Complex in Franklin, WI to take on the Raiders from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Concordia entered play today tied for first place in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference with Marian University, and the Cougars held onto their share of the lead with a huge display of offensive firepower, pounding out nine homers in a 20-3, 22-2 sweep of the Raiders.

The Cougars started scoring early, as Joe Silva (Arlington Heights, IL/Hersey) launched a homer to centerfield to give CUC starter Eric Palmer (Melrose Park, IL/West Leyden) the lead before he took the mound.

The lead grew to 6-0 in the second, and all five runs scored after two were out. Jeff Von Moser (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame), Brendan Klein (St. Charles, MO/Lutheran St. Charles) and Silva all singled, with Silva collecting his second RBI in as many at-bats. Klein and Silva then scored when a high pop-up to second base was misjudged for an error. Brent Spohr (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community) was next up, and he got all of a pitch to centerfield for his first homer of the season.

Concordia kept adding on over the next few innings as Von Moser's two-out single in the third scored Will Randerson (Combined Locks, WI/Kimberly) who had reached on a double. In the fourth, Spohr's sacrifice fly scored Silva, and Mitch Wilson's (Oswego, IL/H.S.) infield single scored Carlos Olavarria (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden) for a 9-0 lead. The Cougars went on to load the bases, and Von Moser won out on a lengthy at-bat as he smoked a 3-2 pitch over the fence in left-center for his first homer of the season, a grand slam that put CUC in firm control with a 13-0 lead.

The fourth inning was not over yet though, as Klein and Silva reached base. Olavarria then crushed one to centerfield for the Cougars' fourth homer of a day, a three-run shot that made the score 16-0. An error continued the inning, and two men were aboard for Doug Matthews (Crest Hill, IL/Lockport Township) , who doubled home a pair to cap an 11-run inning.

Leading 18-0, the Cougars opted for wholesale changes in the bottom of the inning. The Cougars added a run in the sixth on a walk to Will Polley (River Forest, IL/Oak Park-River Forest) and singles by Brady Roberts (Aurora, IL/Marmion Academy) and Steve Zubrzycki (McHenry, IL/Marian Central). Thomas Gier (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) provided CUC's final run in the seventh with his first homer of 2015, a solo shot to rightfield.

Alex Meyers (Edwardsville, IL/H.S.),Brian Musielak (Chicago, IL/Brother Rice) and Ryan Hayes (Schaumburg, IL/H.S.) threw the final four innings to close out the game. The Raiders scored their first run in the sixth as a fly ball got lost in the sun for an RBI double. Two more runs in the bottom of the seventh closed out the scoring for game one.

In game two, MSOE scored first as a leadoff liner to the rightfield corner got down for a triple. A ground ball to second brought the runner home, but Cody Caballero (Lemont, IL/H.S.) avoided any further damage in the first. Caballero then worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second and retired the side in order in the third.

The Cougars began to take control in the top of the fourth. Spohr lined a double to left and came home moments later on Wilson's single up the middle. Wilson would be caught trying to steal second, but that only slowed the Cougars momentarily. Matthews singled, and Gier followed with his second homer of the day, a blast that cleared the fence in left-center and put CUC in front to stay.

The offense added on in the fourth as Spohr singled and Olavarria hit a shot that one-hopped over the fence in left for a ground-rule double. Matthews drove in Spohr with a sacrifice fly, and Wilson went deep with the Cougars' first homer of game two, a two-run blast to center that made the score CUC 6, MSOE 1.

Walks to Von Moser and Silva helped the Cougars to two more tallies in the sixth. Coppin's single scored Von Moser, and Olavarria's sacrifice fly drove in Silva. With a seven-run lead, head coach Adam Smith went to the bullpen for freshman A.J. Sanchez (Oak Lawn, IL/Richards). Caballero improved to 6-1 in allowing just one run on three hits over his five innings of work while striking out three.

In the seventh inning, as eight of the nine starters were given the rest of the afternoon off, the Cougars still managed to send 19 men to the plate and score 14 times. The highlights of the inning included the Cougars' final two homers of the day, a grand slam by Colin Bethran (Schaumburg, IL/H.S.) and a two-run shot by Von Moser, his second of the day. Blake Szurkowski (Yorkville, IL/H.S.) added the first hit of his collegiate career, a two-run single. MSOE closed out the scoring in the bottom of the inning with a one-out homer, the Raiders' sole round-tripper of the day.

The Cougars scored the most runs in a doubleheader since April of 2001 when they tallied 47 runs (12 and a single-game record 35 against Rockford). "It was just one of those days where everyone was seeing the ball well and having good, smart at-bats," said Smith. "This was a good time for this to happen as we still have some big games coming up tomorrow and Saturday."

Concordia (21-13, 13-3 NACC) will host Lakeland College Monday afternoon at 12 noon in a makeup of Saturday's rained-out games.