ABILENE, TEXAS – The Concordia University Chicago (CUC) baseball team continued their hunt for warm weather baseball with a doubleheader against Hardin-Simmons University. Facing off against former CUC baseball All-American Mitch Wilson, now leading the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys, the Cougars and Cowboys split the day.
GAME ONE: 8-2 L
INSIDE THE BOX
- Jake Mahler (Vernon Hills, Ill.) led the offense going two-for-four at the plate as the lone Cougar to pick up multiple hits.
- Cam Buckley (New Lenox, Ill.) and Brandon Mahler (Vernon Hills, Ill.) each picked up one hit, one run, and one RBI while B. Mahler's lone hit was a double.
- Ryan Renella (Bartlett, Ill.) pitched six innings for the Cougars, picking up one strikeout in his 26 batters faced.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Cougars got to work right away after two quick outs put J. Mahler at the plate. A single down the left field line paired with a stolen base would put him in scoring position with B. Mahler at the plate. A double to right center would score J. Mahler and put the Cougars up 1-0 to start the game.
- The Cowboys answered in the bottom half of the inning and tacked on three runs to steal the lead. CUC would struggle to bounce back after two quick outs in the top of the second would once again put them in an unfavorable position. A two-out walk for Dom Owens (Frankfurt, Ill.) would put one on base for a Xavier Zagerman (Chandler, Ariz.) to drive a double into right center and move Owens to third. With two runners in scoring position, a caught foul ball would close the inning, leaving two stranded and the Cougars still trailing by two runs.
- The Cougar defense would get to work and hold the Cowboys scoreless in the bottom of the second, after back-to-back groundouts to Renella paired with a fly ball for Buckley.
- The game would stay stagnant until the top of the fifth were a solo home run from Buckley would provide a much needed spark for the Cougars. Now, only trailing by one run, the Cougar defense continued to battle to hold the Cowboys steady.
- With a new arm on the mound in Dylan Ferraro (Windsor, Colo.), the Cougars looked to put another zero on the scoreboard, but would end up allowing one run on two hits and an error to leave the inning trailing by two.
- With the final two innings behind the bats for CUC resulting in six outs in six batters, the Cowboys would take the 8-2 win after tacking on four more runs in the bottom of the eighth.
HIGHLIGHTS
GAME TWO: 13-9 W
INSIDE THE BOX
- Buckley led at the plate in game two, going three-for-four with four runs and three RBIs.
- Connor Jerkatis (New Lenox, Ill.) followed closely behind going two-for-four at the plate with four RBIs.
- Many other Cougars picked up multiple hits in this game in J. Mahler, B. Mahler, Jerkatis, and Jeffery Beckert (Mount Prospect, Ill.).
- Six total Cougars picked up RBIs in the game.
- Buckley, J. Mahler, Zagerman, and Jerkatis all recorded doubles in the game.
- Dylan Scott (Bartlett, Ill.) pitched six innings for the Cougars, picking up three strikeouts in the process, including his first of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Game two started off with momentum on CUC's side once again after a leadoff walk for Buckley paired with a hit by pitch for Austin Koberstein (Milwaukee, Wis.) put two runners on base. B. Mahler would wear a pitch and load the bases up for Jerkatis to send a long ball to the right center wall to score all three runs and put the Cougars up 3-0.
- A quick defensive inning would see three outs in four batters to send things right back to the hot Cougar bats. Unable to ride their momentum, the Cougars would go down in four batters with Beckert as the lone hit in the inning.
- The Cowboys would tack on two runs in the bottom of the second to make things interesting, but in the top of the third the Cougars proved that they remained in the driver's seat. A double from Zagerman paired with a single from Jerkatis would tack on one more run and bring the lead up to two.
- In the bottom of the third, with one runner on base, a double play from Richie Sperando (Darien, Ill.) to Beckert to Jerkatis would close the inning in three batters and keep the Cougars ahead by two.
- In the top of the fourth, a leadoff single from Sperando paired with a double from Buckley would allow one run to score and put the Cougars ahead by three for the first time since the first inning.
- With Scott dealing on the mound and forcing three outs in the air, the Cougars would head to the top of the fifth with nothing but momentum on their side. A walk for Koberstein paired with a double from J. Mahler would put two runners in scoring position while a single from B. Mahler would score one. Zagerman would put a ball on the ground in the infield and send another run across the plate while picking up the first out of the inning. Unable to convert on the remaining base runners, CUC would close the inning with two runs on two hits and leaving two on base.
- A three up, three down inning for the Cowboys, courtesy of two Scott strikeouts and a diving catch in center field from Buckley would quickly put the Cougars right back to the offensive side of the game.
- An infield single from Buckley paired with a stolen base would put him in scoring position for a single from J. Mahler to score him and put the Cougars up 8-2.
- Heading into crunch time, the Cowboys would put another three runs on the board in the bottom of the sixth and another two runs in the bottom of the seventh to cut the Cougar lead down to one.
- With the Cowboys rapidly approaching the CUC lead, a perfectly placed bunt from Buckley in the top of the eighth would put a runner on before he made his way around the bases, stealing second and advancing on a wild pitch. With a Koberstein walk, there would be runners on the corner bags before a ball hit to the shortstop would allow Buckley to score and extend the Cougars lead to two.
- Not letting up, the Cowboys would tack on another run in the bottom of the eighth to sit with a one run deficit and put the pressure on the CUC offense heading into the final inning.
- Staying calm under pressure, the Cougars got to work with Sperando making his way on base off an error paired with a single from Beckert. A wild pitch would move both runners and leave an open bag for Buckley to take a walk and load things up. A single from Koberstein with bases loaded and two outs would score two and give the Cougars a comfortable three-run lead.
- Not satisfied with the three run lead, a dropped fly would allow J. Mahler to get to first and let two more runs score, extending out to a 13-8 lead.
- With Kyle Connelly (New Lenox, Ill.) entering the game on the mound, a quick strikeout would put one out on the board. The Cowboys would not go down without a fight and would load the bases up, but they would only be able to tack on one run before Connelly forced a flyout and a groundout to close the game with the 13-9 victory for the Cougars.
HIGHLIGHTS
WHAT'S NEXT
The Cougars are 'Choosin Texas' for one last game with their final matchup against Hardin-Simmons University tomorrow, March 14
th, with first pitch set for 11:00 am. Coverage can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
