Mequon, Wis.- The weather finally cooperated this afternoon as the Cougars took on rival Concordia Wisconsin from Kapco Park. In game one, the Falcons took advantage of some late CUC miscues to take game one 6-4. In game two, the Falcons rallied late in the eighth inning again and stunned the Cougars to win 11-10 to earn the sweep.
Adam Schmitt hit the mound for game one for Concordia Chicago. Right off the bat, the Falcons capitalized on a CUC error. CUW's Nathan Thyssen reached to second off the error, advanced to third on a seeing eye single to the right side, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Justin Barney to give CUW a 1-0 lead.
After a scoreless second inning from both teams, the Cougars high octane offense struck in the third. Jose Mercado led things off with a walk. Bryan VanDuser followed that with a rocket to right center for a single advancing Mercado to third. With runners on first and third, Joe Silva earned himself a walk to load the bases with nobody out. After a strikeout, Mitch Wilson drew an RBI walk to tie the game up at one. Keegan Tyrell came through for CUC hitting a bases clearing double down the right field line scoring all three runners and giving the Cougars a 4-1 lead. In the bottom half of the third, the Falcons cut the lead to one as Michael Szeszol hit a ground-rule double to left. Dan Ranieri came up with a double of his own, but the relay of Silva, and Wilson were able to gun down the tying run at the plate to keep a CUC 4-3 lead.
The bottom half of the fourth, the Falcons continued to swing the bat. After a walk and a single, Kyle Washburn came up and singled down the right field line to tie the game up at four. Schmitt pitched five strong innings and left it to senior reliever Alex Meyers. Both offenses went quiet the next couple innings, before the Falcons made some noise in their half of the eighth inning. Concordia Wisconsin were able to take advantage of a couple of CUC errors and some small ball gave the Falcons a 6-4 lead where they pitched a clean ninth and beat the Cougars 6-4 in game one.
Offense was the highlight of game two for both teams. To start the game, VanDuser laced one to right center for a single. After back to back outs, Wilson singled to the right side to put runners at first and third. Wilson stole second and Tyrell stayed out as he put CUC out in front with a sharp single up the middle scoring two runs. The Falcons were able to limit the damage to only two runs and that seemed to give them a little momentum for the next two innings. Concordia Wisconsin gave themselves a lead by scoring two in the first and two more in the second to take a 4-2 lead.
In the third inning, the Cougars absolutely took off. Andrew Massey started the inning with a four pitch walk. Wilson followed that up with a double down the right field line advancing Massey to third. The Cougars best hitter on the day, Tyrell, hit a swinging bunt back to the pitcher, but the CUW pitcher sailed one that allowed Massey and Wilson to score to tie the game at four. Concordia Chicago continued to pour it on as Brady Roberts double to right center to score Tyrell and give CUC a well deserved 5-4 lead. The offense didn't stop there however, after a groundout, Connor Brandon got in on the action as he singled to left field to score Roberts. With the lead at two, VanDuser and Silva hit back to back doubles that scored two more runs and the Cougars led 8-4.
However, the offense didn't stop there, this time for Concordia Wisconsin. The Falcons responded with three runs in the bottom of third to cut the Cougars lead to 8-7. In the fifth, the Cougars tacked on some insurance runs. VanDuser started it off again with a one out single to left. Silva came up big for CUC as he doubled down the line for the second time to give the Cougars a two run lead. Massey came up ripping a 2-2 pitch into right field to score Silva and extend the CUC lead to three.
Like earlier in the game, the Falcons responded with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut the CUC lead to one once again. The Cougars bats went dormant in the sixth through eighth innings not really threatening, but CUW once again struck gold in the bottom half of the eighth scoring two runs to take the lead at 11-10.
In the top half of the ninth, the Cougars threatened right from the first pitch. VanDuser was hit by the first pitch from the CUW closer and Silva followed that up with a soft single to center to put the tying run at second base. After a flyout to right, VanDuser tagged on the play to put the tying run 90 feet away. Silva stole second, so the Falcons decided to intentionally walk Wilson to load the bases with one out. Concordia Wisconsin's closer, Scott Plachinski managed to get out of the inning on a fielders choice and a flyout to right to win the game 11-10 for the Falcons and sweep the Cougars.
Concordia-Chicago (17-7, 4-2 NACC) returns to action tomorrow afternoon when MSOE comes to River Forest. The Raiders will serve as the home team because of field conditions up in Milwaukee, Wis. Opening pitch is set for 12:00pm.
