May 12, 2016 - There's something about a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference tournament game at Kapco Park in Mequon, WI that brings out the best in the Concordia-Chicago baseball team. The Cougars, winners of the last three tournaments, began their quest for number four this evening and dominated in a 10-0 seven-inning win over the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The victory was the Cougars' 13th consecutive in conference tournament play.

The Cougars' opponent came into the game riding an interesting success story. The Raiders were making their first NACC tournament appearance in their history, and they advanced to the evening game against CUC with a well-played 3-2 win over host school Concordia University Wisconsin. But MSOE (21-21) was no match for CUC starting pitcher Mike Formella (Homer Glen, IL/Lockport Township) or a 14-hit attack that saw the Cougars score in every inning except the first.

The first two runs of the game came in the second inning. Brent Spohr (Ingleside, IL/Grant Community) led off with a single down the line past the third baseman. Mitch Wilson (Oswego, IL/H.S.) then lined a sharp single over the first baseman as Spohr raced to third. Brady Roberts (Aurora, IL/Marmion Academy) went first-pitch hunting and lifted a fly to medium-deep center to bring home Spohr with the first tally. After the second out was recorded, Andrew Kroncke (St. Charles, IL/St. Charles North) hit a deep fly to right-center that neither outfielder could run down. Kroncke circled all the way to third with a triple as Wilson crossed to make it 2-0.

In the third, CUC's first two men were retired before the bats went back to work. Andrew Massey's (Chicago, IL/St. Rita) fly to deep left-center fell between the two outfielders for a double, and Spohr then made it a 2-2 night as he singled to center to score Massey.

Concordia-Chicago kept on hitting, picking up single tallies in the next few innings. A Grant Davis (Morris, IL/Morris Community) leadoff double and a two-out single by Bryan VanDuser (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield North) scored the run in the fourth inning. With the hit, VanDuser extended his hitting streak to 14 games, going back to April 16. Massey's lost-in-the-lights double and Wilson's single to center made it 5-0 after five.

While the Cougars kept rolling, Formella was in firm control on the mound. After Doyle's leadoff hit in the first, he retired the next eight batters. Later, he retired seven in a row after the leadoff man reached in the third.

The Cougars applied the finishing touches in the sixth and seventh. Kroncke led off the sixth with a base hit, stole second and moved to third as the MSOE pitcher uncorked a wild pitch. Joe Silva's (Arlington Heights, IL/Hersey) sacrifice fly scored Kroncke for one run. Then, with VanDuser on first base (walk), Massey hit his first homer since donning the Cougar uniform in March; his two-run blast the opposite way over the rightfield wall, made it an 8-0 game and chased the MSOE starting pitcher.

With the 10-run rule looming, the Cougars turned it on one more time to end the game early. Roberts singled and came around to score on Davis' double. After a walk to Kroncke and a fielder's choice that erased the lead runner, VanDuser singled back up the middle to score Kroncke and put the Cougars into the second round.

While the Cougars' offense was consistently on its game from beginning to end, CUC head coach Mike Stawski gave much of the credit  for the win to Formella. "We went back and looked at Mike's earlier games this season, especially the game in March against St. Joseph's of Maine (a shutout win). We made an adjustment in his delivery which we felt would make all the difference, and he certainly executed on it tonight. We felt that Mike gave us an excellent chance at winning this game, and he proved us right."

The middle of the order provided the most punch for Concordia-Chicago tonight. Massey finished 3-4 with two doubles and his homer, Spohr went 2-4 and Wilson 2-3. 

Concordia-Chicago is now 30-11 on the season, making it nine consecutive 30-win seasons. The Cougars will now get ready for Aurora University on Friday night at 7:00. Third-seeded Aurora advanced to this round by defeating Dominican University 5-4 in 13 innings and Benedictine University 9-4.  Live coverage of this game and the rest of the tournament action can be found at http://cuwfalcons.com/tournaments/bsb/2016/index.