Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 April 13, 2016 - There were several challenges awaiting the Concordia-Chicago baseball team as they went on the road to play their third doubleheader in as many days. Their opponent was the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks, ranked number one in this week's American Baseball Coaches Association poll and number two by the D3Baseball.com poll. The Warhawks were hoping to exact some payback after the Cougars had stunned the Warhawks, at the time the defending NCAA III national champion, in last year's NCAA III Midwest Regional. Against this backdrop, the Cougars put together two gutsy performances in sweeping the Warhawks by scores of 8-5 and 6-5.
Both games saw the Cougars control the game early and build big leads before withstanding late rallies by the home team. In game one, freshman southpaw
Ryan Tishka (Mokena, IL/Lincoln-Way Central) took the mound for his first start of the season. His teammates gave him the lead right away as
Bryan VanDuser (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield North) led off the game with double and scored on
Andrew Massey's (Chicago, IL/St. Rita) single.
The lead ballooned to 6-0 as the Cougars erupted in the third. VanDuser, Wilson and
Joe Silva (Arlington Heights, IL/Hersey) ripped doubles as two runs quickly crossed the plate.
Brady Roberts (Aurora, IL/Marmion Academy) and
Grant Davis (Morris, IL/Morris Community) singled home runs during the uprising, and a fifth run scored on an error.
The Warhawks began their comeback with a run in the fourth and three in the fifth. When the Warhawks added a run in the sixth, CUC head coach
Mike Stawski went to the bullpen for
Rob Lock (Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius). Lock retired the next two batters on a fly to center and a grounder to first, and the Cougars remained in the lead by a score of 6-5.
Concordia-Chicago added insurance runs in the seventh and ninth innings. Wilson singled with one out in the seventh, moved up on a sacrifice by
Andrew Kroncke (St. Charles, IL/St. Charles North) and scored on a single by
Brent Spohr (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community). Kroncke figured in the ninth inning run as well, reaching base on a bunt single and scoring on Silva's two-out double.
Lock took the Cougars home from there, finishing up a strong 3 2/3 innings of work for his first save of 2016. The senior allowed just one hit and two walks in his 59-pitch outing.
Senior
Nick Barnhill (Normal, IL/Normal West) took the mound for game two as CUC went for the sweep. Barnhill battled the UWW starter through three scoreless innings before the Cougars gained the upper hand in the fourth. Silva led off with an infield single and moved up to second on a throwing error. Wilson then delivered a single to right-center for the initial run of the game.
The Cougars followed up with a four-run fifth inning.
Kevin Coppin (Lisle, IL/H.S.) drew a one-out walk, moved up on a stolen base and wild pitch and scored on
Keegan Tyrell's (Joliet, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) single. Wilson and Spohr also singled home runs in the inning, and Wilson and Silva executed a double steal for the other run.
Whitewater stormed back in their half of the fifth with three runs, chasing Barnhill in favor of
Matt McTague (Skokie, IL/Niles North). McTague retired the first two batters he faced, keeping the Cougars in the lead at 6-3.
McTague faced another jam in the sixth as the Warhawks loaded the bases with one out. However, a ground ball produced a force out at the plate, and a fly to center got McTague out of the inning with no damage.
Petar Arbov (Elk Grove Village, IL/Elk Grove) came on to pitch the seventh and allowed one walk in an otherwise uneventful inning.
Arbov pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, but the home team mounted one more challenge in the ninth. A hit by pitch and a walk began the inning, bringing the tying run to the plate. Arbov retired the next two batters, but the next two batters delivered run-scoring singles to make it a 6-5 game and put the winning run on base. With fans of both sides holding their breaths, Arbov won the battle by striking out the final batter of the game to complete the Cougars' sweep and end an exciting day/night of baseball.
The Cougars improved to 18-7 with the wins. They will take a 6-2 conference record into this weekend's twinbills with Concordia University Wisconsin and Wisconsin Lutheran College.
