May 14, 2015 - Facing elimination on day two of the NCAA III Midwest Regional, the Concordia-Chicago Cougars shook off the frustration of Wednesday's shutout loss and defeated the College of St. Scholastica 7-4 today at Copeland Park in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. 

The Cougars wasted no time worrying about a shutout today. Jeff Von Moser (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame) led off the bottom of the first by drilling a 1-1 pitch off Daniel Wood over the advertisements on the leftfield wall for his third homer of the season and a quick 1-0 lead. "Jeff got a hanging changeup and hit it out of the yard, and you could see the look in our guys' eyes. They were able to get a little moxie going," said CUC head coach Adam Smith.

Concordia-Chicago doubled its lead in the third after the first two batters flew out. Mitch Wilson (Oswego, IL/H.S.) split the outfielders in left-center with a double and came home when Carlos Olavarria (Rosemont, IL/East Leyden) cracked a first-pitch single to center. The throw home was on target, but Wilson made a good slide to barely beat the catcher's tag.

Eric Palmer (Melrose Park, IL/West Leyden) entered the fourth inning having retired the first nine batters, four of them on strikes. But the Saints started to stir as their speedy leadoff hitter Austin Colvard beat out a high chopper to short for the first hit. Colvard moved up on a sacrifice and scored on Trevor Bernsdorf's single up the middle. The Saints threatened for more but, following a pop to second for out number two, CUC catcher Will Randerson (Combined Locks, WI/Kimberly) caught Bernsdorf leaning off the base and picked him off to end the inning with the Cougars still leading 2-1.

The lead only lasted another inning however, as Shayne Ciernia led off the fifth with a screaming liner to right that had just enough altitude to clear the fence for a game-tying homer. Palmer came back to get the next two outs before a key play kept CSS from taking the lead. Padraic Getchell hit a deep fly to left. Olavarria ran back to the wall and made a leaping attempt but could not come down with the ball. As centerfielder Colin Bethran (Schaumburg, IL/H.S.) ran over to pick up the baseball, Getchell had a triple in his pocket but was given the green light to try and stretch it into an inside-the-park homer. Bethran's throw came to Von Moser, and the shortstop's relay to Randerson was in plenty of time to apply the tag and keep the game even at 2-2.

Palmer came back to toss a 1-2-3 sixth before the Cougars took command in their half of the inning. Von Moser worked a full count before drawing a leadoff walk and stealing second moments later. Wilson also went to 3-2 before singling through the hole between first and second to put runners on the corners. Olavarria then hit a one-hopper to the third baseman who froze Von Moser briefly before throwing to second for a force out. However, the second baseman dropped the throw as Wilson slid in safely. Meanwhile, Von Moser sprinted for home as soon as the throw was made to second, and he scored as the throw home was off target for a second error on the play. Wilson and Olavarria moved to third and second respectively and would score shortly afterwards, Wilson on a passed ball and Olavarria on Brent Spohr's (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community) slow bouncer to the right side of the infield. 

The Cougars' lead was looking good at 5-2 entering the seventh, but the Saints made a determined charge and nearly evened the score. An infield hit and a walk put two runners aboard with one out. Coach Smith went to the bullpen for C.J. Selner (Milwaukee, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran) who got ahead in the count against Chris Olson. But Olson pulled a 1-2 pitch that snuck past first baseman Spohr and rolled down the rightfield line. Two runs scored and, suddenly, the Saints had the tying run on second with just one out. A fielder's choice caught Olson trying to go to third, and he was tagged out in a brief rundown while Jake Kuschke replaced him on base. Kuschke advanced to second on a wild pitch but was caught trying to steal third base as Getchell drew ball four, and the inning ended with CUC clinging to a 5-4 lead. 

Bethran gave the Cougars some breathing room as he led off the seventh with a single and moved up as Von Moser was hit by a pitch. A balk moved both runners up 90 feet, and Bethran scored when Wilson's chopper took a high artificial turf bounce, leaving the second baseman no choice but to throw to first for the out.

A two-out run in the eighth gave CUC some additional insurance. Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) beat out a bunt single towards the first baseman. Santarelli stole second and then went to third as Bethran took advantage of another turf bounce to beat out a chopper to the mound. With Von Moser at the plate, both runners got a tremendous jump off their respective bases. The pitcher's attention was drawn to Bethran long enough for Santarelli to slide into home for the 7-4 lead. "That was a play that (assistant coach) Dusty Napoleon brought over from Iowa," said Smith. "We've worked on it in practice and pulled it off in a game earlier this year, and we wanted to try it here. We wanted that three-run lead going into the ninth, and it worked out great for us."

The lead stood up as Rob Lock (Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius), who had entered to get the final two outs in the eighth, completed his second save of 2015. He retired Steven Neutzling on a comebacker, got Brian Minks on a liner to rightfield and then slipped a third strike past Ciernia to end the game. 

The Cougars' win moves them into a 1:15 game on Friday afternoon against Ripon College. The Red Hawks fell to 1-1 in the tournament after being edged out by Coe College 5-4.  

Click here for more photos from this game.