Baseball 5/26/2018 11:07:00 AM Jim Egan, Sports Information Director

Cougars Look for Upper Hand, Battle Texas Lutheran on Saturday

#2 Cougars v. #6 Texas Lutheran, Saturday at 7:45 (seedings are overall in World Series)
Live stats - https://www.ncaa.com/game/baseball/d3/2018/05/26/concordia-chicago-texas-lutheran
Live video - https://www.ncaa.com/championship/liveplayer/player?gameId=2920230
NCAA World Series Page - http://www.uwoshkoshtitans.com/NCAABaseballChampionship/Index

CUC Baseball - https://www.cucougars.com/index.aspx?path=baseball
CUC Twitter - https://twitter.com/CUChicagoSports
CUC Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/CUCAthletics/
CUC Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cucougars/

The Cougars were in fine form on Friday night as the Division III World Series opened play for the final time in Appleton, WI. Behind Joe Silva's 3-5 and four RBIs, and home runs by Keegan Tyrell and Connor Brandon, the Cougars held off a feisty Swarthmore team by a final score of 9-4. Now, the attention turns to Saturday evening as the Cougars battle a Texas Lutheran team that made a solid first impression themselves in beating the College of Wooster by a 7- 0 score.

The winner of tonight's game will gain the advantage in Pool B, while the loser would have to come back tomorrow, defeat the winner of the Wooster-Swarthmore game at 4:30 and then come right back at 7:45 and play the undefeated team, similar to the regionals setup. Itf there are still two one-loss teams remaining in the pool at the end of Sunday, that would create the "if necessary" game to be played on Monday afternoon.

Last night, Concordia-Chicago grabbed a 3-0 lead after one inning on Silva's two-run triple and Brady Roberts' single (Roberts going 4-5 with two RBIs). The Garnet cut the lead to 3-2, but winning pitcher Brian Musielak (7-2) battled all night and was able to get the key outs when he needed them. Tyrell's two-run homer in the fourth and Brandon's solo shot in the sixth upped the advantage to 6-2, and CUC (39-13) held off a couple of late rallies by Swarthmore to win the all-important first game.

Texas Lutheran (39-9) wasted no time in getting on the board against Wooster in Friday's final game, getting a three-run homer by Tyler Cauley. They increased the lead to 6-0 after three, and that was more than enough for Bulldogs' ace Nathan Malinovsky as he threw a four-hit shutout in TLU's 7-0 victory.

Cauley and Riley Schaefer form a powerful one-two punch in the Bulldogs' lineup. Cauley's homer last night ws his 11th of the season, and his five RBIs give him 65 for the year. Cauley is hitting .392 entering play tonight, second to outfielder Schaefer who is a .426 hitter with eight homers and 41 RBIs. The Bulldogs average 7.4 runs per game.

While Malinovsky had his way with the Wooster hitters last night, TLU has another formidable starter that they will likely throw at the Cougars tonight. Dylan Drgac is a 6' 4" senior right-hander with an 11-1 record and 2.69 ERA. He leads TLU's pitching staff with 113 innings pitched and 108 strikeouts against 28 walks with opponents batting .246 against him. Drgac hs thrown four complete games this year, but the Bulldogs also have a quality closer in Dylan Murrell (2-0, five saves, 2.22).

Follow tonight's action on the links above, and remember to stop by www.cucougars.com afterwards for the game recap and a link to the post-game press conference.

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Players Mentioned

#32 Connor Brandon: OF; 6' 1"; Junior; R-L

#24 Brian Musielak: P; 6' 2"; Senior; L-R

#11 Brady Roberts: C; 5' 8"; Senior; R-R

#34 Joe Silva: OF; 6' 1"; Senior; L-R

#3 Keegan Tyrell: OF; 5' 10"; Senior; R-R

Players Mentioned

#32 Connor Brandon
: 6' 1"; Junior; R-L
: OF

#24 Brian Musielak
: 6' 2"; Senior; L-R
: P

#11 Brady Roberts
: 5' 8"; Senior; R-R
: C

#34 Joe Silva
: 6' 1"; Senior; L-R
: OF

#3 Keegan Tyrell
: 5' 10"; Senior; R-R
: OF