Mequon, Wis. — The Concordia University Chicago baseball team continued their hot hitting on Sunday, splitting a doubleheader with rival Concordia University Wisconsin. The Cougars fell 12-9 in game one before responding with a 15-5 victory behind four home runs in game two.
Game One
After scoring 17 runs across Saturday's doubleheader, the CUC lineup got right back to work on Sunday in game one.
The scoring got going early on an RBI fielder's choice off the bat of fifth-year Brody Mariotti (Yorktown, Ind.). This came after the Cougars loaded the bases on a walk and two errors.
Starting pitcher Michael Kasik (Chandler, Ariz.) worked around some trouble early on, stranding three Falcons on base over the first two innings.
Concordia Wisconsin eventually tied things in the bottom of the third, but the Cougars responded with two more of their own in the next half inning. Mariotti started things with a double to center, and senior Kevin Garcia (Chicago, Ill.) followed with a single to put runners on the corners with nobody out.
Both runners scored two batters later on a throwing error in the infield, putting the Cougars back in front 3-1.
This lead was short-lived, as the Falcons added a run in the bottom of the fourth before taking their first lead of the game at 4-3 in the fifth.
Still trailing by one in the seventh, the Cougars loaded the bases with only one out for Garcia. Garcia came through in the grandest of ways with his fourth home run of the season and second in as many days. This gave CUC its biggest lead of the day at 7-4.
An eight-run bottom of the inning followed, however, and the Falcons quickly jumped to a 12-7 lead.
Much like game one on Saturday, the Cougars refused to go quietly in the ninth. Garcia continued his big day at the plate with a lead-off double, and a walk to junior Caleb Anderson (Plainfield, Ill.) set up an RBI chance for senior Matthew Uba (Darien, Ill.), who delivered a single up the middle.
Sophomore Elijah Hickman (Rensselaer, Ind.) added a two-out RBI hit two batters later, bringing the tying run to the plate for CUC. The rally would end here unfortunately for the Cougars, as the Falcons held on for the 12-9 victory.
Inside the Box Score
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Garcia reached base four times. He had a single, double, home run, four RBIs, and two runs scored.
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Hickman had two hits, a walk, RBI, and run scored.
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Anderson drove in two runs and drew a pair of walks.
Game Two
The Cougars took no time getting going in game two. They drew back-to-back walks to open the game before junior Garry Maynard (Oswego, Ill.) stepped to the plate and ripped his fourth home run of the weekend to give CUC an early 3-0 lead.
Another big inning followed in the third, starting with back-to-back hits from Maynard and Mariotti, the latter of which an RBI double to give the Cougars a 4-1 lead.
Anderson delivered the big blow later that inning, launching a three-run shot to right field for his first home run of the season. It was all Cougars from this point on.
Mariotti extended the CUC lead with his first long ball of the afternoon in the fourth, bringing home senior Howie Hatton (North Riverside, Ill.) with him.
The Falcons posted their biggest threat of game two in the 7th. With two runs already home, they had cut the CUC lead to 10-5 and were in prime position to pull even closer with runners on the corners and just one out. Sophomore
Vincent Sartori (Crest Hill, Ill.) was able to get the first batter he faced to ground into a double play, however, and in doing so worked his team out of a late jam.
The winning pitcher of record, Sartori went 2.2 innings pitched while allowing just one hit and striking out three. He's now 4-1 on the season.
In order to avoid letting things get any more interesting, the CUC offense continued to do damage in the final innings. With Hickman in scoring position to start the inning, Maynard roped a double to right field for his fourth RBI of the game.
Garcia promptly drove home Maynard two batters later with his second home run of the day, a laser out to left that brought the lead back up to eight for the Cougars.
They proceeded to add two more runs in the ninth, the first on an RBI groundout from Hickman and the second on a wild pitch that junior Christian Jacob (Scottsdale, Ariz.) raced home on.
Sartori promptly shut the door in the bottom half to finish off his outstanding relief outing, and the Cougars earned the split with a 15-5 victory.
Inside the Box Score
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With his home run in the fourth, Mariotti is now just one away from tying the school record for most in a career.
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Maynard had a team-high three hits and four RBIs. He also reached base on a walk and scored three runs.
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Jacob had a patient approach at the plate in game two, drawing four walks.
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10 different Cougars scored runs in the win.
The Cougars will head back up to Wisconsin on Tuesday for a non-conference clash with Carthage College. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m., and coverage will be available on cucougars.com/coverage.
