RIVER FOREST, ILL. – Continuing the battle for spots in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) tournament, the Concordia University Chicago Cougars took on the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons for game two of the series, pulling the sweep after a 7-1 victory.
INSIDE THE BOX
- Julio Cajigas (Romeoville, Ill.) led the offense on the day going three-for-four at the plate with two RBIs off one homerun and one double.
- Tyler Dorsch (Phoenix, Ariz.) went one-for-one at the plate on the day with his lone hit being a double in his first at-bat followed by three walks throughout the game.
- Garry Maynard (Oswego, Ill.) went one-for-three at the plate with two RBIs off a double with one walk on the day.
- Four Cougars stole bases on the day with Cajigas, Maynard, Jaime Sandoval (Oak Lawn, Ill.) and Christian Jacob (Scottsdale, Ariz.) each stealing one bag apiece.
- Wyatt McLaughlin (Cave Creek, Ariz.) pitched six complete innings only allowing three hits and no runs while picking up a career-high tying seven strikeouts.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Cougars quickly showed their home field dominance after a fast three up, three down to start the game. Despite a leadoff single to centerfield followed by a stolen base from Jacob put a runner in scoring position. After a fly out to right field moved the runners around the bases the Cougars were unable to convert in the bottom of the first.
- With two more strikeouts in the top of the second for McLaughlin, the Cougars got back to work where a leadoff single from Cajigas and stolen base would get him in scoring position early. A few batters later, a massive two-out triple from Elijah Hickman (Rensselaer, Ind.) would send Cajigas home and put the Cougars ahead 1-0.
- Despite starting the inning off with a double play and picking up two quick outs the Cougars fell into a bases-loaded jam before another huge strikeout from McLaughlin would get the Cougars out of the top of the third inning clean.
- Going into their third straight inning starting off with a hit, a double from Dorsch would get the Cougars in scoring position early. With Dorsch moving to third off a fly out to centerfield, he would eventually score off a sacrifice fly from Brandon Mahler.
- Already having a big game, Cajigas capitalized even further after sending a rocket onto Division St. to add two more runs on the board for the Cougars.
- Holding scoreless for a few innings while McLaughlin continued to dish on the mound, the Cougars got going offensively again in the bottom of the sixth inning after back-to-back hits from Cajigas and Krater would put runners in scoring position before a ball hit to second base would give Cajigas the opportunity to score, putting the Cougars up 5-0.
- With Mike Tobin (Hickory Hills, Ill.) coming in to relieve McLaughlin, another quick three batter inning would hand things back over to the Cougar offense where they'd pick up their final two runs of the day off a two-run double from Maynard.
- With Chandler Kerr (Lockport, Ill.) pitching in relief of Tobin, another clean inning would keep the Cougars up by seven before heading into the top of the ninth with Dax Meyer (Lombard, Ill.) stepping on the mound as the final pitcher for the Cougars, they'd secure the 7-1 win over the Falcons.
HIGHLIGHTS
The Cougars will play games two and three of their seven game stretch this week tomorrow as they take on Rockford University at home after Sunday's postponement. First pitch is set for noon at the Thunderdome with coverage able to be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
