February 26, 2017- With the Texas trip coming to a close, the Concordia-Chicago Cougars would take to Tornado Stadium one final time, looking to build off of a 5-1 win over Southwestern University last night. They would take on the Pirates again today on a chilly morning in Austin."I did not want game 4 of the season to be a BIG game," said Head Coach Mike Stawski, "but I think it was and the guys stepped up." The Cougar bats got hot in the fourth, as CUC batted through the order scoring six runs including a Brent Spohr homerun. The Cougars tacked on runs in the sixth, seventh and ninth, hitting for the team cycle, leading to a 11-3 victory.
"Everyone finally saw a glimpse of what we are capable of," remarked Stawski. "Scoring 6 early and having Mike Formella close the door inning after inning was our catapult today." Talking about the teams hitting performance he remarked. "The entire lineup played a role today and we expect that to continue throughout the season. If you are going to split a 4 game weekend, always win the last two! You get to leave with momentum."
Formella got the ball for the Cougars this morning. After working two and a third innings of relief on Friday night, he would pitch well for CUC. He pitched into the sixth allowing just two earned runs while striking out four.
The Cougars bats came alive in the top half of the fourth. Spohr led off the inning and provided the first of the fireworks in the inning with a high deep shot over the leftfield fence for the first homerun of the year. Two walks and an error loaded the bases following the Spohr homerun for Aaron Wicker. Wicker would drive home the second run of the inning with a sac fly to left that scored Mitch Wilson easily. Brendan Klein kept the offense coming with a single to right that scored Justin Rodriguez from second. Bryan VanDuser joined the fun by drilling a ball off the center field wall and racing all the way around to third. He would be quickly brought in by a ground ball by Joe Silva making it 6-0 CUC. The Cougars bat through the order in the inning just a double shy of the cycle as a team.
CUC continued to build on the offensive momentum in the sixth. Connor Brandon led off the inning with a walk. Spohr followed with his third hit of the afternoon. After Brandon was caught stealing, Wilson drew a walk. Rodriguez then drove Spohr home with a single to centerfield. A sac fly by Doug Matthews added one more giving the Cougars the 8-0 lead.
Southwestern would pick up three runs on three hits in the bottom half of the sixth. CUC then loaded the bases in the top of the seventh, but a double play would limit the Cougars to just one run in the inning, making the score 9-3 CUC. The Cougars would keep the offense going picking up two more in the ninth. After a Klein walk and a VanDuser single to left, Siva ripped a double to left center scoring both Klein and VanDuser. Matt McTague would work the ninth for CUC, closing the Texas trip with an 11-3 victory.
CUC pounded out a trip high 12 hits while hitting for the cycle as a team. VanDuser and Spohr both recorded three hits, including the big swing by Spohr to begin the fourth. Rodriguez who was seeing his first action of the season, responded with two hits and an RBI. Alex Meyers would work two clean innings of relief while striking out two.
The Cougars (2-2) will return to River Forest tonight. They then will have a week to prepare before heading to Florida for their annual spring break trip. First game of the seven game trip is set for 8:00am (CST) on March 5 against DeSales University from Pennsylvania