April 8, 2017- Coming off a weekend sweep last week of Marian and Milwaukee School of Engineering, the Cougars come into weekend number two looking to continue their momentum in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference against Aurora University who comes in at 3-1 in the NACC. These two storied programs have won the last seven conference championships with the last four having Concordia-Chicago hoisting the plaque at seasons end. The Cougars got the best of the Spartans as they swept Aurora winning by the final scores of 13-0 and 12-4.
With the wind howling out, the first couple innings went by fast as Aurora's John Barnes and Concordia's Keaton Conner cruised early. The Cougars got to Barnes in the third with a leadoff home run from senior Kevin Garvey. Reigning NACC player of the year Joe Silva, doubled in Bryan VanDuser who had a one out walk to make it 2-0. Seconds later, Brent Spohr singled through the right side to score Silva and give the Cougars a 3-0 lead early.
Concordia-Chicago extended their lead in the 5th adding two runs. Silva lead off the inning with a double to left center. CUC's second baseman Mitch Wilson matched Silva with a double to deep left center to score Silva that extended the Cougars lead to 4-0. Kevin Coppin gave the Cougars a 5-0 lead with a sac fly to right that scored Spohr.
The Cougars tacked on seven insurance runs in the seventh inning highlighted by back to back home runs by Coppin and Kevin Garcia. Alex Meyers came on in the bottom half to close out the game by striking out the side to win by the final score of 13-0.
Conner went 6 scoreless innings, only gave up two hits, walked four, and struck out a game high seven Spartan hitters. The Cougars were lead by eight extra base hits, which included a season high three home runs.
Concordia-Chicago's bats stayed hot as VanDuser lead off game two with a sharp single to left. Spohr later drove in VanDuser to give the Cougars an early 1-0. In the second, Garvey led off the second inning with a bunt single. Garvey later used his speed to steal second and third to put himself in scoring position for the top of the Cougars order. It paid off for CUC as VanDuser continued his hot hitting with a triple off the left field wall to take a 2-0 lead.
After Aurora tied it up with a run both in the third and fourth innings, the Cougars came right back in the fifth to take the lead. After a Wilson one out single and Brady Roberts hit by pitch, Justin Rodriguezsingled to left field to score Wilson and give CUC a 3-2 lead.
Starting pitcher Brian Musielak, making his second start of the season pitched five strong innings only given up two earned runs and in line to get the win. Musielak escaped a 5th inning jam when he had runners on first and second with only one out. He managed to get a flyout and popout to end the inning and keep CUC with a lead after five.
In the seventh, Spohr led off with a single as the Cougars caught a break as the Spartans right fielder lost the ball in the sun. After a couple strikeouts, Spohr stole second, which proved to be huge as Rodriguez came up clutch again driving in Spohr to give the Cougars a 4-2 lead.
Concordia-Chicago really opened up the game in the eighth scoring three runs in hopes to secure another sweep against a NACC opponent. In the Cougars eighth, VanDuser led it off a one out hit by pitch. Silva drove in VanDuser with a double to right, but was thrown out at third. CUC got their next two runs on back to back home runs for the second time on the day by Spohr and Wilson to give the Cougars a 7-3 lead.
The Cougars added five insurance runs in the ninth, highlighted by a Joey Anderson RBI single to right field, and a Spohr bases clearing double to put the game out of reach 12-3. Concordia-Chicago closed out the game winning by the final score of 12-4.
Musielak went five innings, gave up two earned runs, walked three, and struck out four to improve his record to 2-1. Mike Formella tossed three innings in relief giving up one earned run, walked two, and struck out three.
In the two games, the Cougars amounted to 25 runs on 33 hits, while the Cougars pitching allowed a mere four runs in the sweep of Aurora.
The Cougars (14-9, 6-0 NACC) return to action tomorrow as they come home to host NACC opponent Edgewood College in a double-header. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00pm.