River Forest, Ill. – Looking to continue their home dominance since 2013, the No. 1 Concordia Chicago Cougars took to the field today for the first time at home against the Marian University Sabres. The Cougars had the offense going all day, pounding out 27 total hits to go along with five homers as they swept Marian by scores of 10-6 and 11-3 to extend their winning streak to 15.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Matt Fauth led the way with five hits.
• Five different Cougars hit homers.
• Bryan VanDuser had five RBI's on the day.
• Adam Gregory and Alex Crinigan picked up the wins, going five and six innings respectively.
• The CUC bullpen worked seven innings and allowed just one earned run.

GAME ONE: W 10-6

CUC grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first. VanDuser got things started by hammering a long ball onto Division street in left. Marian answered with a run in the top of the second to tie the game at one.

The Cougars took a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the second. Connor Brandon led off the inning getting hit by a 2-2 pitch. Keegan Tyrell followed by hitting a 1-0 pitch deep over the center field wall to make it 3-1 CUC. Two outs later Fauth reached on an infield single He was brought around to score two batters later on a Brayden Benavides single to left center.

Marian answered in the third with a three run homer down the left field line.

CUC got two back in the next half inning. Brody Mariotti singled to left and Brandon followed with a first pitch homer over the center field wall to give CUC a 6-4 lead.

Both pitchers settled down for the next two innings until CUC broke things open in the fifth.  After a Justin Rodriguez double, Abelardo Paz Agudelo served a homer of his own over the left field wall to make it 8-4 Cougars. After a pitching change, a single and hit batter put two on. Benavides and VanDuser delivered RBI hits to push the CUC lead to 10-4.

Marian got single runs back in the sixth and eighth innings but the combination of Cade Ludenschlager and Zach Litke was able to work through the final four innings to seal the 10-6 victory.

GAME TWO: W 11-3

Marian struck first in game two. They were able to plate the initial run of the game on two hits in the top of the first.

CUC quickly answered in the bottom half of the inning. Jose Mercado left off the inning with a single to right. Benavides then drove a fly ball deep into center that was misplayed by the centerfielder which allowed Mercado to race around and score. Benavides then came around to score on a VanDuser single to right to make it 2-1 CUC.

Marian was able to tie it up in the second on a two out single to left center.

CUC got the offense going again in the fourth. A leadoff walk and a stolen base put a runner in scoring position with one out. Mariotti then doubled to left center to give CUC the lead. With two outs a walk and a single that was misplayed on the ground by the left fielder allowed two more runners to score. CUC added on one more in the inning when Fauth doubled to left field to make it 6-2 CUC.

Marian scratched a run across in the top of the fourth but CUC had an answer in the bottom half. It was Mercado with the long ball this time for the first of his career deep over the high wall in center field.

The Cougars put the game away for good in the eighth. Paz Agudelo, Fauth, Mercado and VanDuser all picked up RBI's in the inning as CUC put up four runs on two hits to extend the lead to 11-3.

Noah Dressler and Mike Tobin combined to work three scoreless innings of relief to close out the 11-3 win.

The Cougars will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they host Wisconsin Lutheran College. Opening pitch is set for 12:00pm.