April 18, 2019 - A long day of baseball that began in River Forest and ended in Lisle resulted in two big storylines for the Concordia University Chicago Cougars, #1 in both the D3baseball.com/NCBWA and the ABCA polls, and the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse Eagles. It was good news for the Cougars in game one as a 3-0 win extended the program's longest winning streak to 24 games. However, the Eagles had the topper in game two as a seven-inning no-hitter by Connor Cook finally ended the CUC streak in decisive fashion, UWL taking the 10-0 win for the split.
The Eagles arrived at Concordia-Chicago about 10:00 this morning for the scheduled noon doubleheader as a steady rain was falling. The rain would not let up, causing a couple of delays for the first game. Finally, as the prospect of two games at CUC became virtually impossible because of time, the two teams settled on playing the games at Benedictine University, where lights would allow them to get both games done as the rain moved out of the area in mid-afternoon.
Game one's first pitch came at 4:05, and it would be a classic pitchers' duel between UWL's Mason McMahon and CUC's Noah Dressler. McMahon was keeping the Cougar hitters off balance, with CUC not getting its first hit until the bottom of the fifth when Justin Rodriguez smacked a clean single between third and short. However, Dressler was up to the challenge, allowing only two hits and a walk through the first six innings.
In the seventh, UWL's Carson Youngquist walked to lead off and was sacrificed to second. Brady Stolzman then hit a sharp grounder that appeared ticketed for left field, but Bryan Van Duser made a diving stop and made a nice throw to first for the second out. The next batter walked, but Dressler then struck out Jake McClellan to end the treat.
The Cougars then made it a lucky seventh. Brody Mariotti led off and hit a deep fly to right that carried over the wall for his team-leading 10th homer of the season. But CUC was not finished yet. With one out, Keegan Tyrell found the gap in right-center for a triple. A grounder to second kept Tyrell at third while the second out was recorded, but with Rodriguez at bat, a pitch bounced in the dirt and got away just far enough for Tyrell to race across home plate.
Dressler worked a 1-2-3 eighth before CUC added an insurance tally. Matt Fauth laced one down the line past the diving third baseman for a lead-off double. He would come around to score on two wild pitches from the Eagles' reliever.
Mike Tobin came on in the ninth to finish off Dressler's gem. Tobin retired the first two batters on a come-backer and a fly to center. Cam Tully kept UWL's hopes alive with a base hit, but Tobin fanned Stolzman for the final out on the 3-0 victory. Tobin's fourth save sealed the deal for Dressler, who impoved to 3-0 on the season. Dressler allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out three in his eight innings of work.
Game two at The Sports Complex got underway with the lights in full effect and the temperature dropping into the low 40s. Cade Laudenschlager was CUC's starter, but the Eagles made him work from the very start. Zach Carney walked to lead off and moved to second on an infield out. Brennan Schmitt then singled in the hole between first and second for the Eagles' first tally of the day. Youngquist was next, and he golfed a pitch high to left-center that hit the light tower beyond the fence for a two-run homer and a 3-0 lead.
The Eagles added a run in the second on McClellan's double and Tommy Nelsen's single, and although UWL threatened but did not score in the third, they drove up Laudenschlager's pitch count enough where he would be done by the end of the inning. Meanwhile, UWL starter Cook was sharp from the first pitch, allowing just a walk to Connor Brandon in the second.
Zach Litke was on the mound to start the fourth. He would blank the Eagles in the fourth, but the Eagles got on him in the fifth. UWL put two men on with one out before McClellan attempted to bunt the runners over. The throw went to third and was in time but sailed over VanDuser's head and into foul territory, the lead runner coming in to score. Alex Robson added a sacrifice fly moments later, and the Eagles led 6-0.
The visitor put the game well out of reach in the sixth. Litke was poised to strand a runner at third with two out, but Youngquist worked a 3-2 count and then lined one into the left field corner for a run-scoring double. The next batter walked, and that was followed by three successive RBI hits before Anthony Rogers would finally put out the fire.
With a 10-0 lead in the sixth, the Cougars would need to trim the deficit over their next two at-bats in order to extend the game, but Cook had too much dominance to allow that to happen. He retired the side on nine pitches in the sixth, and CUC came up in the seventh, still with only one base runner to their credit in game two. Brayden Benavides fanned on a full-count pitch for out number one. VanDuser was next up, and he hit a high fly to right-center. Three fielders converged on it, and the center fielder would grab it and then see the ball pop out of his glove. VanDuser made second on the error, but that would not deter Cook. Mariotti struck out, and Brandon then hit the first pitch high to right-center. The center fielder took a few steps toward the warning track and this time gloved the ball to put the capper on Cook's no-hitter while ending the Cougars' winning streak at 24 games.
Cook threw just 89 pitches in completing his gem and improving to 4-1 on the season. He struck out eight batters and walked just one.
The Cougars (24-2) will return to conference play this weekend when they host the Milwaukee School of Engineering on Saturday. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 12 noon.