The Concordia University Chicago baseball team (10-22) completed their penultimate series of the season with a Sunday afternoon double-header against the seventh-ranked Aurora  University Spartans (30-4).

The opening game was a slugfest that featured 31 runs, with Aurora eventually emerging victorious 16-15. Game 2 began similarly, but after CUC jumped out to an early lead it was all Spartans with the home team winning 15-5.

The Cougars started the day perfectly with a two-run home run from sophomore Gary Maynard (Oswego, Ill.) in the top of the first inning. Maynard would double his home run and RBI totals a few innings later with another 2-run shot, which brought the Cougars to within two runs at the time trailing 6-4.

The Spartans led 9-4 entering the 7th inning of Game 1, when the Cougars turned the game around. The inning began with a solo home run for junior Alex Kinert (Cave Creek, Ariz.), which kicked off a hit parade. Senior Brody Mariotti (Yorktown, Md.) drove in junior Nathan Dewey (Geneva, Ill.) to bring the Cougars within three, and then Mariotti and Maynard scored on a bases loaded double by junior Matthew Uba (Darien, Ill.) to make it a one-run game.

The Cougars ended the frame with a bang: a three-run home run by senior Cooper Hynes (Melrose Parke, Ill.), the first of his career, to give CUC an 11-9 lead. 

Both offenses continued to battle down the stretch. Aurora quickly responded by taking a 12-11 lead in the home half of the 7th, but the Cougars stormed right back with a Kevin Garcia (Chicago, Ill.) three-run blast in the 8th to restore their lead 14-12. The Spartans again responded to tie the game at 14 going to the ninth.

The Cougars looked to have the game possibly won when Kinert drove in sophomore Bryce Vincent (Algonquin, Ill.) to once again edge the away team in front, but it wasn't to be as the Spartans led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo home run before winning on a walk-off RBI single.

Meanwhile, amid all the offense, Cougars starting pitcher Cole Carman set a new career high for pitches thrown in a game with 118 in his 32nd career appearance.

In Game 2, the Cougars wasted no time trying to build an insurmountable lead. Junior catcher Michael Zavoli (Lake Barrington, Ill.) hit a three-run homer in the top of the first, and Mariotti extended the lead to 5-0 with his Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference-leading 12th home run in the third inning.

But this wasn't a day for leads to last, and the Spartans not only responded to take the lead but kept it for good. 

The Cougars' final series of the regular season begins with a home double-header at the Thunderdome next Saturday followed by two games at Rockford on Sunday. Saturday's action is set to begin at noon, with a stream available on the CUC athletics Youtube channel.