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Concordia University Chicago Athletics

Home of the Concordia-Chicago Cougars

Jeffery Beckert
Josh Prosise, CUC Athletic Communications
3
Concordia Chicago CUC 1-4
4
Winner Bluffton BLU 1-0
Concordia Chicago CUC
1-4
3
Final
4
Bluffton BLU
1-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Concordia Chicago CUC 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 8 1
Bluffton BLU 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 X 4 4 0

W: W. Nowakowsk (1-0) L: Prosise, Josh (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Kayla McCloud, Director of Athletic Communications

Back-and-Forth Battle With Beavers Ends With Cougar Defeat

AUBURNDALE, FLA. – On their second gameday in the Sunshine State, the Cougars of Concordia University Chicago fell to the Beavers of Bluffton University in a back-and-forth day.
 
INSIDE THE BOX
  • Jake Mahler (Vernon Hills, Ill.) was the lone Cougar to pick up multiple hits on the day, securing two hits in five at-bats.
  • Xavier Zagerman (Chandler, Ariz.) went one-for-two at the plate with two walks, two runs of his own, and one stolen base.
  • Five pitchers saw time on the mound with David Deimling (Bloomingdale, Ill.) going four innings with three strikeouts in 18 batters faced. Kyle Ston (Winfield, Ill.) and Kadin Borck (McHenry, Ill.) each added strikeouts on the day with two and one, respectively.
HOW IT HAPPENED
  • A leadoff single for Cam Buckley (New Lenox, Ill.) got things moving early for the Cougars, but a double-play and a fly out to center field would retire the inning rather quickly. Forced to go on the defensive side, two consecutive walks and a wild pitch would put two Beavers in scoring position before an infield groundout would allow the runner on third to score and take the lead 1-0 after the first full inning.
  • Looking to retaliate, Connor Jerkatis (New Lenox, Ill.) picked up an infield single off a slow roller toward third base while back-to-back walks for Jeffery Beckert (Mount Prospect, Ill.) and Zagerman would load the bases up with only one out. Another ball hit toward third base would force an out, but allow the game-tying run to score. After Brendan Holloway (Vernon Hills, Ill.) found a free base to load things back up, a walk for Buckley would score the go-ahead run, and the Cougars would close the top of the second with a 2-1 lead.
  • A leadoff walk for the Beavers in the bottom of the second would put one runner on base for a sacrifice bunt to move the runner into scoring position. Deimling would lock in on the mound and deliver back-to-back swinging strikeouts to not allow the runner the chance to move and hand things back to the Cougar offense.
  • Three outs in four batters would close the top of the third quickly and allow the Beavers to tie the game back up in the bottom of the second, but the Cougars would answer quickly yet again. In the top of the fourth, a perfectly placed bunt from Zagerman would put him on first where he would steal second and move to third on an infield ball. He would cross home after a wild pitch found its way to the back fence and retake the lead from the Beavers.
  • The game would sit static until the top of the fifth where J. Mahler and Brandon Mahler (Vernon Hills, Ill.) would each spark up with singles through the left side gap, but a double-play and infield ball would close the inning with no runs on the two hits. The bottom half of the inning would see the Beavers tie the game up at three, where it would sit until the bottom of the seventh. Both teams struggled to take advantage of their offensive bursts until a sacrifice fly from the Beavers would put them ahead 4-3. Heading into their final two innings behind the bats, the Cougars retired six outs in six batters and fell to the Beavers.
 
UP NEXT
The team will be back in action tomorrow, March 2nd, as they play Wartburg College at 10:00 am EST. Coverage can be found at cucougars.com.
 
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