April 11, 2018 – Neither sunny, warmer conditions nor sudden reversal to chilly, grey conditions could keep the Concordia-Chicago baseball team (#2 ABCA, #4 D3Baseball.com) from doing what they set out to accomplish this afternoon. The Cougars, tasked with making up last Saturday's doubleheader at Wisconsin Lutheran College, traveled to Milwaukee and improved their overall record to 17-5 and their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference record to 4-0 with victories by 7-1 and 16-5 scores, game two lasting seven innings.

After an uneventful first inning of game one that began in 55-degree temperatures, the Cougars opened the scoring in the second. Mitch Wilson led off with a single and, one out later, Brady Roberts looped a single just over the middle infield. With two out, it was Connor Brandon that came up with the clutch hit, picking on the first pitch and driving it between third and short for the game's opening RBI. Following a couple of stolen bases, Jose Mercado blooped a double just inside the right field line to plate Roberts and Brandon for a 3-0 lead.

Game one starter Noah Dressler stranded a WLC runner in each of the first two innings, but the Warriors struck for a run in the third. With two out, Brett Jakel singled, stole second and scored on a single to right by K.J. Banse, Jakel just beating the throw to the plate.

The Warriors threatened again in the fourth, leaving the bases loaded. In the fifth, after CUC added a run on Andrew Massey's sacrifice fly, WLC continued to pressure. The first two batters in the fifth singled, although CUC caught a break when the second hit struck the base runner, who was ruled out. A walk and another single loaded the bases, but Dressler bore down and fanned Joe Hanson and Brock Vredeveld to keep the lead at three runs. Through five innings, the sophomore hurler stranded nine men on base, five in scoring position.

Alex Meyers took over the mound duties in the sixth and would finish the game for his first save. Meyers allowed no runs and struck out six. The Cougars added insurance for him with a pair of runs scoring on WLC errors in the seventh. VanDuser then singled home the final run of game one in the top of the ninth inning.

Game two was a wild affair, beginning with a sudden drop in temperature. It saw both teams playing "match game" at the onset. The Cougars scored two in the first on sacrifice flies by Wilson and Jacob Frank, but the Warriors evened in their half with the help of a couple CUC errors. Each team scored a singleton in the second before the Cougars upped the ante in the third. With one out, Kevin Coppin drew a walk. That brought Frank to the plate, and he ripped a 2-1 pitch to deep left that sailed out of Neumann Family Field for his second homerun in as many days. The Cougars added a third run in the frame as Brandon walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch. The Warriors replied in the bottom of the inning, but only with a single run as the Cougars led 6-4 after three.

Concordia-Chicago kept the pattern going in the fourth as Massey's double led to a run. The Warriors then came to bat, but Cody Caballero used a 5-4-3 double play to keep the home team scoreless in their half. The Cougars took the cue from tha and proceeded to blow the game wide open with a seven-spot in the fifth. Joe Silva's RBI single started the barrage, while Massey, Matt Fauth and Mercado also drove home runs. CUC also took advantage of some wildness from the WLC bullpen, and when the dust had settled, the Cougars were in control with a 14-4 lead.

The Cougars added single tallies over the final two innings to make it seven straight innings with at least one run. The Warriors scored a final run in the sixth, but Cole Carman and Trey Grassl, the latter making his college debut, combined to throw the final three innings and close out the sweep for the NACC-leading Cougars.

"I was happy that we were able to bounce back after a long day (at Dubuque) yesterday," said CUC head coach Mike Stawski. "We did well pouncing on some of their mistakes, and our offense was really good in keeping up the pressure, both getting on base and then running the bases."

The Cougars will return to conference action this weekend, with contests at Concordia University Wisconsin on Saturday and at home against Lakeland University on Sunday.