Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 April 15, 2017 - "It might not have been our best win of the season, but I'd say it was my favorite." That was the reaction of Concordia-Chicago head coach
Mike Stawski after the Cougar baseball team responded to a 16-3 loss to host Concordia University Wisconsin in game one of a doubleheader with a 10-4 win in the nightcap. The split put the Cougars at 9-1 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, two games ahead of Benedictine University and three in front of CUW.
"We didn't have much of anything going in the first game, but our guys did a great job of putting it behind them and being ready to play game two," said Stawski.
"Brian Musielak and
Mike Formella battled hard and gave us the pitching we needed, and our hitters did a great job in giving us the lead and then staying on top."
The first game was a nightmare for the Cougars, beginning in the bottom of the second inning when the Falcons belted out three homers on the way to an 8-0 rule. The Falcons also benefited from a strange run-scoring infield fly situation on a day when the winds blowing around Kapco Park made plays anything but routine. The Falcons built their lead to 16-0 and, although the Cougars scored three times in the seventh, it was not enough to avert the seven-inning mercy rule. The hosts pounded out 19 hits in the win, scoring in every inning except the first.
The Cougars did not wait nearly as long to get on the board in game two. With one out,
Joe Silva singled and
Brent Spohr doubled.
Mitch Wilson's ground ball to second then brought home Silva with the first run of the game.
The Falcons fought back with a run in their half of the first, but the Cougars took back the lead for good in the second.
Justin Rodriguez ripped a single to center leading off. One out later,
Kevin Garvey went deep to left-center for his second homer of the year and a 3-1 lead. The lead became 4-1 in the fourth when
Kevin Garcia followed suit with a shot to the scoreboard in left for his second of the year.
Musielak kept the hosts off the scoreboard in the second and third innings, but CUW made another push in the fourth as Isaac Tewes doubled in a run and then scored on a single for a 4-3 game. However, Musielak was able to strand two runners aboard by getting the third out on a fly to right.
Concordia-Chicago answered with a three-run fifth to take control.
Kevin Coppin drew a one-out walk, and Rodriguez followed with a long fly down the line that just stayed fair inside the pole for a two-run homer, his first as a Cougar. The Falcons' pitcher then walked Garcia and Garvey, and a new pitcher came in to face
Brendan Klein. The strategy did not pay off for the home team, however, as Klein singled between first and second to score the third run of the inning and give CUC a 7-3 lead.
The Falcons pushed across their final run in the fifth, but the Cougars kept answering as they scored twice in the sixth, one on a sacrifice fly by Garcia. Doubles by Spohr and Coppin produced the final run un the seventh, and Formella closed the door on CUW as he put them down quietly over the final innings.
The cougars (17-10 overall) will return home to host Wisconsin Lutheran College on Monday at 1 p.m.
