RIVER FOREST, ILL. – Continuing their week of playing nationally looked at teams, the Concordia University Chicago baseball team played host to the Bearcats of Willamette, who are receiving votes in Division III top 25. The Cougars downed the Bearcats 4-2 on a beautiful day in River Forest.
Prior to the game, the Cougars honored and recognized the alumni presence at The Thunderdome as they held Alumni Day. More than 20 highly decorated alumni were in attendance ranging from members of the World Series teams, All-Americans, and Players of the Year.
INSIDE THE BOX
- Yashion Boswell (Lynwood, Ill.) led the offense going 3-4 at the plate with two RBIs.
- Elijah Hickman (Rensselaer, Ind.) and Tyler Dorsch (Phoenix, Ariz.) each added one RBI on the day as well.
- Six Cougars dealt on the mound with Kyle Ston (Winfield, Ill.) picking up his first win of the season while Eliot Higgins (Park Ridge, Ill.) collected his first save of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Relying on "The Night Shift" on the mound for the Cougars, Tyler Pritchard (Manhattan, Ill.) went to work on the mound closing out the inning in four batters. With the Cougars unable to see more than three batters in their half of the inning, the Cougars were back on the defensive end with Aidan Teahan (Park Ridge, Ill.) taking the mound for inning two. Despite allowing two hits, Teahan was able to hold the runs off with the help of Hickman in centerfield and Boswell at shortstop to close the inning scoreless.
- With 21 batters seen in three and a half innings, the game would remain scoreless until Boswell would get things going with a single to centerfield to put one runner in scoring position. A walk for Xavier Zagerman (Chandler, Ariz.) would load the bases up for a single from Hickman to score one and put the Cougars up 1-0. A follow up single from Dorsch would score one more in the inning and give CUC the comfortable 2-0 lead.
- The Bearcats would even things up in the top of the sixth off two hits and put two walks but the Cougars wouldn't waste any time bouncing back.
- Back-to-back walks for Michael Kasik (Chandler, Ariz.) and Anderson paired with a passed ball would put two runners in scoring position for a single up the middle from Boswell to score two and put the Cougars back on top once again, 4-2.
- The Cougar defense would hold off the Bearcats with strikeouts from Connor FitzGerald (Chicago, Ill.) and Higgins to close the game and give the Cougars the much needed victory.
HIGHLIGHTS
The Cougars will be back in action to continue Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play on Wednesday as they take on Rockford University in a midweek doubleheader. First pitch is set for noon. Coverage can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
