DAVENPORT, Fla. --- Playing for the third consecutive day in the sunshine state, the Concordia University Chicago baseball team took the turf against the Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves on Monday afternoon. The offense gave the Cougars a lead late, but NWU was able to plate three runs in the ninth to spoil the day, downing CUC 9-8.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
-         Garry Maynard (Oswego, Ill.) had two hits and an RBI.
-         Carter Gledhill (Arlington Heights, Ill.) hit his first home run of the year, a solo shot to left.
-         Jaime Sandoval (Oak Lawn, Ill.) led the way with two RBIs on a double to left-center.
-         Westin Stutzman (Goshen, Ind.) got the start and worked four and two-thirds, allowing just one earned run while striking out six.

The Cougars got the offense going in their opening swings. With two outs, Maynard stole second to get into scoring position. Brody Mariotti (Yorktown, Ind.) then doubled to left field bringing in Maynard to make it 1-0 Cougars. CUC then added another in the second. With two outs Matthew Uba (Darien, Ill.) reached on an infield single. He then promptly got to second on a passed ball. Christian Jacob (Scottsdale, Ariz.) brought Uba in to score when he ripped a double to center field.

Stutzman kept the CUC lead at 2-0 until the bottom of the third. An infield single came around to score on a double to right-center to pull NWU within 2-1. That score held until the top of the fifth when CUC added on another. With one out Howie Hatton (North Riverside, Ill.) doubled to right-center. He then came into score on a Maynard single through the left side to make it 3-1 Cougars.

Nebraska Wesleyan took their first lead of the day in the fifth. The Prairie Wolves had just one hit in the inning but were able to plate three unearned runs to take a 4-3 lead.

The Cougars answered back in the next half-inning. Two walks and two hit batters in the inning allowed two runs to score and give CUC the lead back at 5-4. CUC added on two more in the seventh. Two walks put runners on for Sandoval. He answered the call by roping a double into left-center scoring two, to extend the CUC lead to 7-4.

NWU was able to pull closer in the eighth, plating two runs on three hits. Concordia got a big insurance run back in the top of the ninth on a solo homer by Gledhill to left-center.
Things came unraveled for CUC in the ninth. Nebraska Wesleyan was able to plate three runs on just one hit. They were aided by a walk and three hit batters, coming back to defeat CUC 9-8.

The Cougars will be back in action on Tuesday morning when they take on Albion College. First pitch is set for 9:30 am (EST) from Lake Myrtle. You can find links to coverage at cucougars.com/coverage.