May 26, 2017 - The Concordia Cougars saw their 14-game winning streak ended on Friday. They cannot afford to waste any time starting up a new one, as they will face the Oswego State Lakers on Saturday morning in what is literally a "win or go home" situation.

The Lakers and Cougars were the one and two seeds respectively in Pool A when the seeding took place earlier this week. However, the Lakers lost 8-7 to Roanoke College on Friday while the Cougars fell 4-2 to Washington and Jefferson College. In that game, Bryan VanDuser knocked in both CUC runs, one with a solo homer to lead off the first, but the Cougars had trouble sustaining any offensive rhythm against Bryce Schnatterly. They managed just eight hits against Schnatterly and two relievers, levaing the tying run on base in the ninth.

Starting pitchers have not been announced, but CUC head coach Mike Stawski would figure to go with either lefty Cody Caballero (5-2, 3.74) or righty Keaton Conner (6-3, 3.31). Both are coming off quality starts in last weekend's Midwest Regional, Caballero against Macalester College and Conner against Adrian College. Despite Friday's loss, Stawski said in the post-game press conference that "I like the way our pitching is set up for the rest of the tournament."

Oswego State (32-10) comes in having won nine of its last 11 games. They were the champions of the SUNYAC (State University of New York Athletic Conference) with a 15-3 record. The Lakers were the only one of the eight teams in the tournament to be in the top 10 of the national rankings, They are led by third baseman Eric Hamilton (.434, 40 runs, 16-20 steals) and outfielder Mike Dellicarri (.352, 7 HR, 32 RBI).