March 11, 2016 - For the second straight day, the Concordia-Chicago Cougars made an emphatic statement on behalf of their pitching staff. Today, it was senior righthander Eric Palmer (Melrose Park, IL/West Leyden) who let his arm do the talking. Palmer struck out 13 Central College batters in just six innings of work as the Cougars dispatched the Dutch by a final score of 6-0 in Auburndale, FL. The CUC staff's string of scoreless innings is now at 19.

Palmer was on his game from the opening pitch. He struck out the side in the first and recorded at least two strikeouts in every inning he pitched except the second. He did not allow a baserunner until the third (error) and a hit until the fourth, a clean single up the middle.

The Cougars squandered leadoff doubles in each of the first two innings but finally broke through in the third. With one out, Keegan Tyrell (Joliet, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) ripped a single to center and Bryan VanDuser (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield North) grounded a base hit through the left side. A chopper to third base moved both runners up 90 feet, bringing up Mitch Wilson (Oswego, IL/H.S.). Wilson hit a towering shot that split the right and centerfielders and rolled to the fence. Wilson raced around to third with the triple while Tyrell and VanDuser scored for the 2-0 lead.

Concordia-Chicago added to the lead in the top of the fifth. Grant Davis (Morris, IL/Morris Community) led off with a chopper that the shortstop fielded in the hole but with no chance to throw out the speedy outfielder. One out later, VanDuser ripped a double down the leftfield line for his third hit of the game, Davis stopping at third. That brought up Andrew Kroncke (St. Charles, IL/St. Charles North) who had just entered the game at shortstop one inning earlier. Kroncke hit the first pitch to rightfield toward the line. The outfielder dove for the ball but could not come up with it, and a non-hesitant Kroncke raced into second with a double as Davis scored and VanDuser held at third. Wilson's grounder to short plated VanDuser and moved Kroncke to third. Kroncke was not at third for long, as Brent Spohr (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community) laced a single to center for the RBI and a 5-0 lead.

The top of the seventh saw CUC score its final run. Wilson doubled to rightfield with one out and eventually scored when pinch-hitter Connor Brandon (Joliet, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) drew a bases-loaded walk. 

Palmer gave way to Brian Musielak (Chicago, IL/Brother Rice) in the seventh, but not before finishing with a flourish. With one out in the sixth, Palmer issued his only walk of the day to Adam Lindell and then gave up an infield hit to Michael Reuter. But Palmer got the second out on an infield fly and then escaped the jam when pitch number 95 caught Kyle Crampton swinging at strike three.

Musielak pitched a solid three innings, notching save number one on the season. The sophomore allowed just two baserunners, both on walks, and struck out four including the final batter of the game looking.

The Cougars (7-2) will wrap up their Florida trip on Saturday with a doubleheader (two seven-inning games) in Auburndale against Babson College of Massachusetts. First pitch of game one is at 12:45 p.m..