Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 April 11, 2016 - Heading into a busy week of games that includes a couple of makeup doubleheaders, the Concordia-Chicago baseball team warmed up the bats in today's home doubleheader against Aurora University. The Cougars rapped out a combined 24 hits that included three homeruns as they swept the Spartans by scores of 10-0 and 10-6 (the former in seven innings).
Senior
Eric Palmer (Melrose Park, IL/West Leyden) took the hill in game one against his former team and limited them to two singles in six innings. The Cougars gave him immediate support in their first at-bat. With two out,
Andrew Massey (Chicago, IL/St. Rita) and
Brent Spohr (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community) singled ahead of
Joe Silva (Arlington Heights, IL/Hersey). Silva then cashed in as he drilled a 2-1 pitch over the fence in right for a three-run homer and a quick 3-0 lead.
The Cougars stayed hot in the early innings as they added two runs in each of the next two innings. CUC loaded the bases in the second with no out before
Bryan VanDuser (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield North) singled home a run. Aurora turned a 6-4-3 double play on the next hitter, but the runner from third scored for a 5-0 lead. In the third, Spohr singled and Silva doubled to get the engine going again.
Grant Davis (Morris, IL/Morris Community) scored Spohr on a sacrifice fly, and
Doug Matthews (Crest Hill, IL/Lockport Township) doubled to right to bring home Silva.
An unearned run in the sixth extended the lead to 8-0, and CUC completed the game one rout with two runs in the seventh to win on the mercy rule. With one out,
Brady Roberts (Aurora, IL/Marmion Academy) singled and Davis doubled. Matthews then ended a crisp 1:35 game as he singled up the middle to score Roberts and pinch-runner
Colin Bethran (Schaumburg, IL/H.S.).
Game two was a much tougher go for the Cougars. Dillon Popovich staked Aurora to a 1-0 lead when he went opposite field for a two-out homer in the first inning. However, CUC evened the score in the second on an error, single by Davis and a double by Matthews.
The Spartans upped the ante in the fourth with a four-run rally. Aurora pieced together five hits and a walk in the inning, with a two-run double by Cole Davis and a two-run single by Ryan Rybakowski providing the big hits. Popovich then hit a long solo blast over the centerfield fence in the fifth to put the lead at 6-1 and the Spartans seemingly in position for a split.
The five-run lead lasted only until the Cougars came up in the fifth. Singles by
Kevin Coppin (Lisle, IL/H.S.) and Bethran and a walk to VanDuser quickly loaded the bases.
Mitch
Wilson (Oswego, IL/H.S.) then roped a single to center to bring home two runs and make it a 6-3 game. Massey followed with a double to score VanDuser and move Wilson to third. The Cougars then produced back-to-back sacrifce flies to tie the game at 6-6. The inning was not over yet, however, as Davis smashed a single to right. Matthews was next, and he hit a high shot to right that carried over the fence for a two-run blast, his first of the season, giving the Cougars the lead at 8-6. Matthews' blast capped a five-hit day with six RBIs between the two games.
Brian Musielak (Chicago, IL/St. Rita) came on to pitch for CUC to start the sixth inning, and he would shut down the Spartans to earn a rare four-inning save for winning pitcher
Mike Formella (Homer Glen, IL/Lockport Township). The Cougars added single runs for insurance in the sixth and eighth innings. The sixth inning run scored on Spohr's towering shot to straightaway center that was kept in the park by the swirling winds; however, those same winds blew the ball away from the outfielder, and Spohr wound up at third for a triple. Wilson capped the scoring two innings later with his first homer of 2016, a shot that cleared the fence in right-center.
The wins lifted the Cougars to a conference record of 5-1 and 15-6 overall. They will look to continue the streak on Tuesday with a doubleheader at Edgewood College. First pitch of game one will be at 3:00 from Staimpfl Field in Verona, WI.
