May 9, 2015 - The Concordia-Chicago Cougars will make their fourth consecutive trip and fifth since 2009 to the NCAA Division III Baseball Regionals following this afternoon's 5-4 win over host Concordia University Wisconsin. The Cougars won their third consecutive Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference tournament, this one coming on the heels of a regular season co-championship.

"It's very exciting to be going back to the regionals," said CUC head coach Adam Smith. "Our players have really worked hard to get to this point, and it's great that our new guys get to experience this. We know that we can play with anybody in the country, and we'll look to do our best next week wherever we go and see what happens."

The Cougars' victory extended their current season-long winning streak to 11 games and also marked their seventh consecutive season of 30 victories. Concordia-Chicago has now won 12 consecutive games in conference tournament play and improved their all-time record at Kapco Park in Mequon, WI to 15-1.

The team's success in 2015 has owed to the contributions of several first-year players in the program, and today it was freshman Alex Meyers (Edwardsville, IL/H.S.) that played a key role. Meyers earned his third win with seven innings of work, allowing three runs on eight hits. The Falcons put pressure on Meyers in the early innings, but the righthander was up to the challenge as he got ground balls to end the first few innings.

Concordia Wisconsin opened the scoring in the fourth as Michael Szeszol singled home a run with two out. The tag of the runner came a split-second late, but catcher Will Randerson (Combined Locks, WI/Kimberly) recovered to gun down Szeszol looking to move into second, and the Cougars limited the damage to one run.

As has been a common occurrence for the past few years, the Cougars answered an opponent's score immediately. With one out, Doug Matthews (Crest Hill, IL/Lockport Township) singled off CUW lefty Joel Sharon. Thomas Gier (Fox Lake, IL/Grant Community) was hit by a pitch and, one out later, Colin Bethran (Schaumburg, IL/H.S.) was also hit to load the bases. Randerson then came through with a single up the middle to score Matthews and Gier for a 2-1 lead.

In the sixth, Matthews jump-started the Cougars' offense again with a solid leadoff single. Moments later, Matthews was in scoring position as he stole second and advanced to third on Gier's ground ball to first. Rich Santarelli (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian) then took advantage of a drawn-in infield to smash a single between third and short and give CUC a 3-1 lead. A walk and hit batsman loaded the bases before a Falcons' miscue threatened to put the game on ice for the Cougars. A ground ball to shortstop looked to be a potential inning-ending double play, but the throw to second was off target, and Santarelli and Bethran came home to make the score CUC 5, CUW 1.

To their credit, the Falcons battled back into the game. The first two batters in the seventh singled, and both moved up on a wild pitch. One run scored on the second out of the inning, a ground ball to short, and another scored on Sharon's single to center. An error extended the inning, but Meyers retired Nathan Thyssen on a soft liner to shortstop Jeff Von Moser (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame) for the final out, keeping CUC's lead at two runs.

Rob Lock (Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius) took over the mound chores in the eighth and retired the side on three ground balls. However, the ninth inning saw the Falcons make one last push. Two walks sandwiched around a fly to left put the tying runs on base. A fly to short centerfield put the Cougars one out away from victory, but Isaac Tewes singled to left to make it a one-run game. The next batter was hit by a pitch, loading the bases and bringing Brandon Seifert to the plate. However, Matt McTague (Skokie, IL/Niles North) ended the drama by retiring Seifert on a soft fly ball to Brendan Klein (St. Charles, MO/Lutheran St. Charles) in rightfield, and the celebration began as the Cougars emptied the dugout.

The Cougars will wait approximately 24 hours to find out which of the eight NCAA III regionals will be their destination.