Cougars and Bulldogs to Decide Pool B Today

#2 Cougars v. #6 Texas Lutheran, Monday at 3:30 (seedings are overall in World Series)
Live stats - https://www.ncaa.com/game/baseball/d3/2018/05/28/concordia-chicago-texas-lutheran
Live video - https://www.ncaa.com/championship/liveplayer/player?gameId=2920225
Regional 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/

When CUC bolted to a 3-0 lead after one inning last night, the hope was that they were on their way to starting the final, best-of-three round on Tuesday. Not so fast. That may still happen, but the Cougars will now have to emerge with a victory in Monday's game. That's because Texas Lutheran was able to retaliate with a couple of big hits while also taking advantage of a couple of CUC misplays. Then, when the Cougars came back to tie the game in the eighth inning, the Bulldogs scored three times in the top of the ninth and held on to defeat CUC 9-7 and force the deciding game of Pool B today. The winner of today's 3:30 game will begin the final round tomorrow versus the winner of today's Pool A game between Randolph-Macon College and the University of Texas-Tyler.

No changes are expected in either team's lineup today. However, the Cougars may be keying on holding down a couple of individuals in TLU's batting order. Lead-off man Riley Schaefer got off to a slow start in the tournament but seems to be warming up; he had a couple of hits last night including a two-run double in the second that helped TLU (41-10) back from their early deficit. Also, Keaton Boyen and Matt Lemin the five and six batters, have been making things happen. Boysen ha been on bae six times in the two games against CUC and started a couple of big scoring innings. Lemon was on base four times last night and also had a sacrifice bunt in the ninth inning that contributed to the go-ahead run.

For the Cougars (40-14), the top of the order is still clicking. Jose Mercado went 4-5 last night, just a homer shy of the cycle, and scored two runs. Bryan VanDuser is heating up as he had two more hits last night with two RBIs, including a safety squeeze in the eighth that tied the game, and his first homer since last year in this park in the opening game of the 2017 World Series.

The starting pitchers have not been announced, but with the stakes so high in this gamer, expect both teams to have "all hands on deck" to the point where some starting pitchers may be pressed into relief duty.

Don't forget to check back at www.cucougars.com after the game for the official recap and the link to the post-game press conference.

GO COUGARS!!!

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Players Mentioned

#1 Jose Mercado: SS; 5' 9"; Senior; R-R

Players Mentioned

#1 Jose Mercado
: 5' 9"; Senior; R-R
: SS

Players Mentioned

#1 Jose Mercado

Players Mentioned

#1 Jose Mercado