April 27, 2015 - The Concordia Cougars hosted Lakeland College this afternoon in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference baseball action. The Cougars were looking to move into sole possession of first place in the conference with a sweep. While the Cougars did take care of business by topping the Muskies 12-1 and 5-1, they remained tied with Marian University at the end of the day thanks to Marian's sweep of third-place Benedictine University.

Coming off a combined 42 runs in their doubleheader win over MSOE on Sunday, the CUC bats started quickly again today. Joe Silva (Arlington Heights, IL/Hersey) led off with a shot to left that sliced away from the outfielder and went for a double. Silva scored two batters later on an infield grounder to second base, but CUC was not finished. Brent Spohr (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community) and Doug Matthews (Crest Hill, IL/Lockport Township) singled, and both came around to score on Rich Santarelli's (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) single between third and short.

Lakeland parlayed two walks and an error into a run in the second, but Concordia struck back in a big way in the third. The first two men reahed base, and Matthews singled down the line past the third baseman for a run. Santarelli came to bat moments later, and his single brought home two more runs for a 6-1 lead. Before the inning ws over, Spohr would add a two-run single as the Cougars plated eight runs total for a comfortable 11-1 lead.

The Cougar pitching had little trouble closing out game one after the eight-run third. Adam Schmitt (Bartonville, IL/Limestone) pitched the first five innings, allowing just the one unearned run in improving to 2-0 on the season. Rob Lock (Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius) and Matt McTague (Skokie, IL/Niles North) followed out of the bullpen with a scoreless inning each. Concordia added a final run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Silva to account for the final score.

In game two, the Muskies struck first with an unearned run off Kurt Kempema (Schaumburg, IL/H.S.). However, that was all the visitors would get off of the senior lefty. Kempema allowed just a fifth-inning single over his six innings of work and recorded eight strikeouts. Two scoreless innings by Nick Barnhill (Normal, IL/Normal West) and one by Lock would complete the Cougars' pitching ledger for the nightcap.

As was the case in the previous game, the third inning was again the lucky one for the Cougars. With one out, Silva doubled to center, and Kevin Coppin (Lisle, IL/H.S.) walked on four pitches. Carlos Olavarria (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden) followed with a line double to left, scoring Silva and sending Coppin to third. A fielder's choice produced an out at the plate, but Mitch Wilson (Oswego, IL/H.S.) kept the inning alive as his single to right-center scored Olavarria for the go-ahead run. An infield single by Matthews tallied Spohr, and Santarelli's single scored Wilson. A second runner was cut down at the plate, but the Cougars would still take a 4-1 lead into the fourth inning.

Concordia scored its final run in the seventh as Olavarria led off with a walk. Wilson singled to the right side, sending Olavarria to third from where he scored on Matthews' grounder to second.

The Cougars (23-13, 13-5 NACC) will host Elmhurst College on Tuesday at 3:00 in a non-conference game. The team will then get ready to host Benedictine on Saturday in a doubleheader that will determine the Cougars' seeding for the conference tournament on May 7-9.