March 23, 2018 - While the Concordia-Chicago Cougars had a long bus ride to LaCrosse, WI on Thursday night, it was nothing compared to the length of Friday's doubleheader against Midwest Regional nemesis, the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse Eagles. Game one, a 16-inning marathon, lasted over five hours, and the entire twinbill ended at 8:55, nearly nine hours after its first pitch. But it was all worth it for the sixth-ranked Cougars, as they swept the twinbill 8-3 and 14-8, improving to 12-3 on the season.

In game one, it seemed very unlikely that the Cougars would see any extra innings at all, because UWL starter Mason McMahon was nearly unhittable. McMahon yielded a two-out scratch hit to Andrew Massey in the first, but otherwise everyone was returning to the CUC dugout with bat in hand. McMahon recorded the first nine outs of the game on strikeouts. He fanned his tenth batter in the fourth and then struck out the side in the fifth with a walk to Kevin Coppin the only interruption. Meanwhile, the Eagles scored a run in the first when the leadoff batter reached on an error and later scored on an infield out. In the bottom of the fifth, Nate Heili hit a solo homer to right, and the Eagles' 2-0 lead was looking large behind McMahon's pitching.   

Not to be overlooked, Keaton Conner was pitching an effective game for the Cougars, and he kept CUC in the game until the offense began to chip away. Jose Mercado and Bryan VanDuser walked to open the sixth, and Joe Silva bunted for only the Cougars' second hit to load the bases. One out later, Mitch Wilson hit a ground ball to first. The throw to second got the force, but there was no chance to turn the inning-ending double play as Mercado scored.

A double play took the Cougars out of a scoring chance in the seventh, but they were back at it in the eighth. With two out, Silva reached on an infield single and took second on a throwing error. A second error in the infield put runners on the corners for Wilson, and the second baseman tied the score with a shot between third and short for the RBI single.

The Cougars appeared to have stolen the victory in the ninth as they took advantage of two more Eagles' throwing errors in the infield. However, a leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth led to UWL tying the game. The Eagles had two men on base moments later and were ready to steal the win for themselves, but the Cougars turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat and send the game into extra innings.

For most of the next six innings, the game was in control of the two relief pitchers, CUC's Mike Formella and UWL's Caleb Willems. Finally, with a new pitcher on the mound for the home team in the 16th inning, the Cougars broke through. Again, the rally started with two out when VanDuser doubled down the right field line. Silva and Jacob Frank drew walks to load the bases and bring Wilson to the dish. Wilson got ahead in the count and calmly took a 3-1 pitch low and outside to force in the go-ahead run. Keegan Tyrell was next, and he worked the count to 2-2 until he found one to his liking, and he drive it to the scoreboard beyond the fence in left-center for a grand slam and a five-run 16th inning.

Alex Meyers, who had entered the game in the previous inning, earned his third win of the year. The Eagles put two men on base in a last-ditch effort, but Meyers got a ground ball to third for a force and the final out of a game that lasted 4:46. 

Two innings into the nightcap, it appeared as if the Cougars' sweep would be anti-climactic after they took a 5-0 lead. Wilson singled and Tyrell walked to lead off the inning. Justin Rodriguez then ripped a single to left for the first run of the game. Next up was Frank, who started game two at first base, and he powered one to left for his first homer of the year, a three-run shot for a quick four-spot. Grant Davis kept things going with a walk, and he later scored as VanDuser shot a double to the left field corner.

The Cougars added a pair of runs in the fourth for a 7-0 lead but, to the Eagles' credit, they came back to make a game of it. UWL scored three in the bottom of the inning to end Cody Caballero's night. The Cougars responded with three in the top of the fifth on Aaron Wicker's single and VanDuser's two-run single, but the Eagles scored two more to make it a 10-5 game after five innings.

Brian Musielak settled things down for CUC, as he came into the game in the sixth and pitched three shutout innings. The Cougars added a run in the seventh on VanDuser's bloop single to right, and scored three more in the ninth on VanDuser's run-scoring single and triples by Silva and Wilson. VanDuser, who was mired in a slump through the first part of the season, broke out in a big way with seven hits over the last two days including 5-6 with five RBIs in game two of the doubleheader. 

The Eagles looked to make a final statement, tallying three times in the ninth, but Adam Schmitt got the final out in identical fashion to game one, a ground ball to third base for a force play.

Concordia-Chicago returns home with a 12-3 record with their next action heralding the beginning of Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play. The Cougars will host Edgewood College next Saturday, March 31 at 12 noon.