Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 April 6, 2015 - With the season just past the halfway point, the Concordia-Chicago Cougars finally had the opportunity to play before a partisan crowd on the home field this afternoon. The Marian Sabres provided the opposition in the Cougars' third Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader. The Cougars flashed their hitting form of previous years in game one with an 11-7 victory, but the Sabres retaliated in game two, taking an early lead and holding on for a 5-4 win.
First baseman Brent Spohr (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community) provided the big bat in game one with a four-RBI effort. Spohr came up with two runners aboard in the first and ripped a double past the third baseman and down the line for a 2-0 lead. After the Sabres tied the game in the second, Spohr capped a three-run rally with a two-run single that scored Jeff Von Moser (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame) and Brendan Klein (St. Charles, MO/Lutheran St. Charles). The Cougars kept up the attack after the Sabres closed to witin 5-4 in the third. A muffed catch error on a sacrifice by Will Randerson (Combined Locks, WI/Kimberly) scored one run. Von Moser followed with a double in the alley to score Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian). A groundout brought home the third run, and Silva's single up the middle scored Von Moser for a 9-4 lead.
Von Moser helped the Cougars add to their lead in the sixth. With the bases loaded, the shortstop beat out an infield hit to his counterpart and, when the throw got away from the first baseman, the runner from second came around to score and give CUC an 11-4 lead.
Marian did not give up however, as they scored one in the seventh and two in the eighth. The Sabres then put their first two men on base in the ninth, but Rob Lock (Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius) coaxed the next batter to ground into a 1-4-3 double play and then ended the game with a groundout to second.
Mike Formella (Homer Glen, IL/Lockport Township) earned his second win of the year with 4 2/3 innings in a staunch relief effort. The freshman allowed just one run on four hits with three strikeouts and one walk. In game two, the Sabres led off with back-to-back doubles off Alex Meyers (Edwrdsville, IL/H.S.) for a quick lead. Later in the inning, a sacrifice fly boosted Marian's lead to 2-0.
An unearned run added to Marian's lead in the second, but CUC got that run back in the bottom of the inning. Spohr singled, moved up on a balk and later scored as the Sabres' pitcher uncorked a wild pitch.
Jordan DeBoer's double extended the visitors' lead to 4-2 in the third, and he would score later in the inning on a grounder to second base. Relievers Adam Schmitt (Bartonville, IL/Limestone) and Matt McTague (Skokie, IL/Niles North) would combine to shut down the Sabres over the final six innings, scattering seven hits and giving the offense a chance to come back. The Cougars scoreed once in the sixth on Mitch Wilson's (Oswego, IL/H.S.) double and Santarelli's single. CUC went on to load the bases with one out and chase the Sabres' starter, but the bullpen would get the next two outs and keep it a two-run game. Concordia then closed witin a run in the seventh as Silva walked, stole second and scored on groundouts by Olavarria and Spohr, the latter giving Spohr a five-RBI doubleheader. However, the Cougars would not put another man on base as DeBoer retired the final nine batters he faced.
Concordia-Chicago (12-12, 4-2 NACC) will travel to Edgewood College on Saturday before returning home to host Wisconsin Lutheran College at noon on Sunday.
