Concordia University Chicago baseball (11-25) wrapped up their season with a doubleheader against Rockford University (15-23) on Sunday afternoon. In two close battles, the Regents were able to emerge victorious by final scores of 6-5 and 8-7.

Game One
Rockford struck in the bottom of the first after a pair of two-out walks followed by a single to right. They continued to score in the second, putting up a four-spot to jump out to an early lead.

Trailing 5-0 in the third, the Cougars opened the inning with three straight singles from junior Niles Gall (Oak Lawn, Ill.), sophomore Garry Maynard (Oswego, Ill.) and junior Nathan Dewey (Geneva, Ill.) to get them on the board. This was only the start. 

Dewey applied some pressure with his speed on the basepath, and his swipe of second base led to an error that brought home Maynard. Two batters later, senior Brody Mariotti (Yorktown, Ind.) hit the fourth Cougar single of the inning to make it 5-3. 

Mariotti advanced to third on yet another single from sophomore Bryce Vincent (Algonquin, Ill.), and they both came around to score on a two-out two-run single off the bat of senior Cooper Hynes (Melrose Park, Ill.) that evened things at five. 

The Regents regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a lead-off double that came around to score two batters later. They would hold that lead for the remainder of the game, winning 6-5.

Sophomore infielder Christian Jacob (Scottsdale, Ariz.) was masterful in his six innings of relief, allowing just one earned on five hits to go along with six strikeouts. 

Dewey and Hynes both had two hits in game one, with Hynes also drawing a pair of walks. 

Game Two
The Regents got on the board quickly in game two with two runs in the bottom of the first. The Cougars answered two innings later in the third thanks to RBI hits from Mariotti and Vincent to even things at two. 

A massive fourth inning outburst put the Cougars ahead, all coming with two outs. After the first two batters were retired, Dewey singled up the middle and then stole second. A walk to junior Matthew Uba (Darien, Ill.) put two runners on for Maynard, who laced a triple to center to put the Cougars ahead 4-2. 

Mariotti followed up the triple with a double down the right field line, extending the Cougar lead to three. Rockford refused to roll over, however, and answered with three of their own in the bottom half to even things back up at five. 

The Cougars quickly jumped back ahead the following inning thanks to a sac-fly from sophomore Jaime Sandoval (Oak Lawn, Ill.). Sandoval added an insurance run two innings later in the seventh with another sac-fly that extended the Cougar lead to 7-5. 

Rockford loaded the bases with no one out in the eighth but, in his college debut, freshman Luciano Mazzulla (Melrose Park, Ill.) navigated the situation well, allowing just one of the runners to score. 

Unfortunately, Rockford loaded the bases again in the ninth and this time were to push across both the tying and winning runs. 

It is the end of the season for the Cougars, who will begin looking ahead to next spring. They would like to thank the families and fans who have kept up with the team throughout the year and look forward to 2022.