Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 April 16, 2016 - It took a while for the Concordia-Chicago Cougars to find their hitting strokes today. But once they did, the Cougars unleashed a merciless attack upon the visiting Concordia Wisconsin Falcons. At one point scoring in eight consecutive innings spanning both ends of the doubleheader, the Cougars solidified their hold on first place in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference with wins of 14-4 and 12-3.

Game one featured a duel between each team's respective ace, Eric Palmer (Melrose Park, IL/West Leyden) of the Cougars and Andrew Mueller of the Falcons. Concordia Wisconsin jumped on top 2-0 in their first at-bat of the day. A hit and a walk set the table for the visitors, and a throwing error on a bunt figured prominently in the pair of runs.

Palmer settled down after the first and hurled four consecutive scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. Meanwhile, Mueller held the Cougars to just one hit through the first four innings, a soft single by Andrew Kroncke (St. Charles, IL/St. Charles North) leading off the third. But the Cougars got on the board in the fifth as Mitch Wilson (Oswego, IL/H.S.) led off with a deep drive that split the center and rightfielders, By the time the ball was retrieved, Wilson was sliding into third base with a triple. Mueller struck out the next batter, but Grant Davis (Morris, IL/Morris Community) followed with a ground ball to shortstop. The only play was at first as Wilson crossed the plate to make the score Falcons 2, Cougars 1.

The Falcons looked to steal the momentum back as they scored two in the sixth. Kyle Hilliard singled home a run, and Isaac Tewes put down a safety squeeze to up the Falcons' lead to three runs.

The remainder of the game was all Cougars. Keegan Tyrell's (Joliet, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) leadoff double started CUC on the comeback trail again. A wa;l and a single loaded the bases with one out, and Brent Spohr (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community) ripped a single between third and short to score a pair and make the score 4-3 CUW.

An error on the Falcons' third baseman began the bottom of the seventh. Colin Bethran (Schaumburg, IL/H.S.) then entered the game as a pinch-hitter, and made a huge impact over the final few innings. On a 2-2 pitch, Bethran reached out and lined the ball the opposite way inside the line toward the right field corner. Pinch-runner Kevin Garvey (Brookfield, IL/Riverside-Brookfield) raced all the way around from first as the tying run as Bethran wound up at second. One out later, Tyrell walked and, when the pitcher's pickoff throw moments later sailed past the first baseman, Bethran trotted home with the go-ahead run.  Before the inning was over, Bryan VanDuser (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield North), Andrew Massey (Chicago, IL/St. Rita) and Spohr all rapped out run-scoring doubles (Massey's hit scoring two runs). The six-spot put the Cougars on top 9-4 after seven,

The Cougars stuck in the final dagger for game one in the eighth. Bethran led off with a triple to left-center and scored with two outs on VanDuser's single. After a walk to Joe Silva (Arlington Heights, IL/Hersey), pinch-hitter Connor Brandon (Joliet, IL/Joliet Catholic Academy) hit a sky-high pop behind third base. The ball was lost in the sun and fell untouched as Brandon wound up on second base as a run scored. A double by freshman Jacob Frank (Chicago, IL/Loyola Academy) scored two runs. Two walks later, Bethran ended the game as his single down the third-base line capped a 3-3 performance over the final two innings and gave the Cougars the win on the 10-run rule.

Brian Musielak (Chicago, IL/Brother Rice) earned his third win of the season with two innings of scoreless relief. Musielak alloed one hit and one walk while fanning two.

Game two saw Mike Formella (Homer Glen, IL/Lockport Township) make the start on the mound for the Cougars. The Falcons put six runners on base over the first three innings, but Formella held the line and prevented all of them from crossing home plate. Formella also received a little assistance from Bethran in the first. With the leadoff man on first, the number two batter lined a single to center. However, Bethran made a rocket throw to third to catch the runner trying to advance.

Continuing off their momentum from game one, the Cougars scored in each of the first four innings. Msasey's single opened the scoring for the nightcap. Concordia-Chicago added single runs on Kevin Coppin's (Lisle, IL/H.S.) infield grounder in the second and Wilson's single in the third. The Cougars then exploded for five runs in the fourth, highlighted by Massey's two-run single. 

The Falcons finally cracked the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the sixth, but the Cougars answered those in their half of the inning. Massey's double and Wilson's single scored a run, and consecutive walks to Doug Matthews (Crest Hill, IL/Lockport Township), Bethran and Coppin forced another run across as CUC led 10-2 after six.

Concordia Wisconsin pushed across their final run in the seventh, and Concordia-Chicago answered with their final two runs. Singles by VanDuser and Silva started the inning, and both runners scored on a double error.

Formella improved to 6-1 on the season with six innings of work. He was followed out of the bullpen by Chaz Schmidt (Twin Lakes, WI/Wilmot Union), Matt McTague (Skokie, IL/Niles North) and Armando Cornejo (Chicago, IL/Jones College Prep).

With the wins, the Cougars improved to 20-7 overall and 8-2 in conference play. They will complete a busy 10-game week with a doubleheader at Wisconsin Lutheran College on Sunday afternoon at 1:00.