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Concordia University Chicago Athletics

Home of the Concordia-Chicago Cougars

Bryan Van Duser
17
Winner Webster University WUBSB 37-11
6
Concordia Chicago CUC 42-10
Winner
Webster University WUBSB
37-11
17
Final
6
Concordia Chicago CUC
42-10
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Webster University WUBSB 1 1 2 1 3 2 6 1 0 17 22 0
Concordia Chicago CUC 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 6 11 0

W: May, Brendan (4-1) L: Litke , Zach (1-3)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Jim Egan, Sports Information Director

Cougars' Record Season Ends in Super Regional

May 25, 2019 - In the end, a season in which the Concordia-Chicago baseball program won a record 24 consecutive games and set a new season record with 42 wins was not enough to achieve the ultimate goal. The Cougars were denied a third consecutive trip to the Division III World Series by the Webster Gorloks, who routed the Cougars 17-6 this afternoon and swept the NCAA III Super Regional after a 4-3 win on Friday.

The game began with warm 76-degree temperatures and a wind blowing out to center, and flashbacks of last weekend's 14-13 game between CUC and Baldwin-Wallace came to mind in the first couple of innings, starting when the third batter of the game, Webster's Ben Swords, drilled a two-out homer (his seventh) to center. CUC answered on a lead-off double to the wall by Jose Mercado. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Keegan Tyrell's sacrifice fly. One out later, Brody Mariotti got hold of a pitch and hit it deep for his 13th homer, almost to the identical spot as Swords' homer, and the Cougars led 2-1 after one inning.

The lead lasted only minutes, as Kyler Kent led off the Gorloks' second with a no-doubt rocket to right for his seventh homer. Webster then took the lead in the third with four straight singles after the first two batters were retired. However, CUC quickly erased that two-run deficit, as Mercado led off with his second double in as many at-bats. Tyrell was hit by a pitch, and Bryan VanDuser singled to right, scoring Mercado and sending Tyrell to third. Mariotti then went deep center again, but not as far this time. His fly was caught just in front of the warning track, but Tyrell scored easily to tie the game at 4-4.

Webster would take the lead for good in the fifth on Aron Hopp's two-out single. The Gorloks then began to open it up, as they scored three times in the fifth. Concordia-Chicago looked to rally in the bottom of the inning, and they got one run back in singles by VanDuser, Mariotti and Connor Brandon. However, WU pitcher Brendan May struck out the next two batters to keep his team in an 8-5 lead. The Gorloks then pulled away with two runs in the sixth, six runs in the seventh and oone in the eighth for a 17-5 lead. The Cougars tallied the final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth as Abelardo Paz Agudelo scored on a wild pitch.

The Gorloks (37-11) amassed 22 hits, with all nine starters getting at least one hit. Kent went 4-6 with four runs scored and four driven in, while Swords went 3-5 with five runs scored. May earned the win with 6 1/3 innings of relief after Mariotti's homer had chased WU starter Dakota Borman. The Cougars rapped out 11 hits, with Mercado. VanDuser, Mariotti and Justin Rodriguez collecting two each. Zach Litke took the loss, the first of six CUC relievers following starter Alex Crinigan.

For CUC, the loss brought an end to not only a great season, but also an excellent run for the class of departing seniors, the first class of fourth-year head coach Mike Stawski. That group - Brandon, Jacob Frank, Justin Rodriguez, Tyrell and VanDuser - contributed to a collective record of 150-51, four straight regular-season conference titles and ht program's first two World Series appearances in 2017 and 2018.
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