April 9, 2017 -  Recent seasons have seen the Concordia-Chicago baseball team flip the switch when the calendar hits April. With today's doubleheader sweep of visiting Edgewood College by scores of 17-7 and 7-5, the Cougars made it 8-0 for the month as well as in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play while keeping a two-game lead over their closest competitors  

While the Cougars had some good pitching performances today, they continued to pound the baseball. Counting yesterday's doubleheader sweep at Aurora University, the team burned the Spartans' and Eagles' pitching staffs for 49 runs in the four games. In their eight NACC games, they have scored 97 runs (12.1 average) and have batted .371.

The Cougars got right to work against the Eagles today as a leadoff double by Bryan VanDuser was followed by three walks, the final one to Kevin Coppin for an easy RBI. VanDuser was at it again the following inning when he followed a bunt single by Kevin Garvey with his third homer of the year. The Cougars then threatened to run away quickly with game one as they put up six runs in the third. A combination of more wildness by the EC starting pitcher and a dropped fly to right that scored three runners had CUC on top 9-0.

To their credit, Edgewood made a run at Concordia, starting in the top of the fourth. Tim Nunn's double plated the first two runs, and Nunn scored on a single moments later. Alex Fowler capped the inning with a triple to right, and the Eagles had four runs on the board.  

Concordia-Chicago got a run back in the bottom of the inning as a leadoff walk to Doug Matthews turned into a run on Garvey's single to center. However, the Eagles kept coming and made it a 10-6 game in the fifth when Nick Lehner hit a two-run homer to left-center following Danny Appino's triple. The Cougars continued to answer, though, as Brent Spohr singled with two outs in the fifth, and Mitch Wilson followed with a two-run blast to right-center for his second homer in two days and a 12-6 CUC lead.

Joe Silva's single made it a 13-6 game in the seventh, but the Eagles got a run back in the eighth on Jeff Tucker's solo blast. Concordia-Chicago then scored four times in the bottom of the eighth to win on the 10-run rule. Doug Matthews led off with CUC's third homer of the game, a blast to center. The Cougars then loaded the bases, and the first two runners would score on a single by Brendan Klein and a walk to VanDuser. Silva was then hit by a pitch, forcing in the game-ending run. 

Alex Meyers earned the win in relief, pitching four innings in relief of starter Adam Schmitt. Meyers allowed just one run on three hits and no walks while striking out four.

Game two featured a matchup between two hot pitchers, Edgewood's Steve Gavin and CUC's Cody Caballero. The Cougars got the upper hand when VanDuser led off with a four-pitch walk and scored on Silva's double to the gap in left-center. Silva moved to third on Spohr's grounder and scored on Wilson's sacrifice fly as the Cougars grabbed a 2-0 lead after one.

The score remained 2-0 until the fifth when the Eagles pulled back a run on a sacrifice fly. But the Cougars continued their pattern of answering opponents' scores as Klein walked and VanDuser singled. When the throw to third base sailed high, Klein was able to score and make it a 3-1 lead.

The Cougars looked to break open game two as they rapped out four hits in the sixth and scored three times, two coming on RBI singles by Justin Rodriguez and Klein. But the Eagles made a final charge, plating four in the seventh. Three of those runs came on Lehner's second homer of the day, a towering drive to center.

Concordia-Chicago tallied an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh on Brady Roberts' two-out RBI single. The Cougars' bullpen then closed it out, with Petar Arbov pitching a scoreless eighth. Mike Formella needed just eight pitches to shut the door in the ninth, striking out two hitters including Appino for the final out, with Lehner in the on-deck circle. Caballero earned his third win, pitching six innings and allowing just one run.

The Cougars (16-9, 8-0 NACC) will return to action on Saturday with a doubleheader at Concordia University Wisconsin.