River Forest, Ill.- Concordia University Chicago took on Rockford University in their final regular season game of the season. The Cougars already had clinched a NACC regular season title and are still hopeful to host the NCAA Regional. CUC got the job done from start to finish, sweeping the Regents by scores of 10-0 and 14-1.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- With his 248th hit, Bryan Vanduser's first inning single broke the all-time CUC hit record
- With three stolen bases in game one Jose Mercado reset his own single season stolen base record with 40
- The 35-5 regular season record is the best in program history
- The 21-1 NACC record is the best in conference history.
- Chris Woods got the win in game one. He worked six innings of shutout baseball.
- Nick Brummmel picked up the win in game two. He worked eight innings, allowing four hits and one unearned run.
GAME ONE, W 10-0
Concordia-Chicago started off early after Mercado was beamed by a pitch, for the 22nd time on the season, to open the game. Mercado would steal two bases and wind up at third. Following the stolen bases, Mateo Calle doubled in Mercado. With Calle at second, VanDuser would single him in to make the score 2-0, and break the all-time Cougars hit record along the way. Two pickoffs would plague Concordia-Chicago in the opening inning and they would leave with a 2-0 lead.
Connor Brandon would double in a run to keep the train rolling for the Cougars' offense in the second inning. CUC would send three more runs around the bases, extending their lead to 6-0.
The Cougars would stay quiet through the next three innings, trickling in two runs in that span. Starting pitcher Woods kept the Regents out of striking distance, allowing zero runs and keeping the lead at 8-0.
In the seventh inning, Alex Kinert ripped a pitch past the outstretched glove of the Rockford shortstop, scoring Mike Zavoli. The score built on the already dominate lead at 9-0. Howie Hatton followed with a bases loaded walk to give CUC a chance to clinch the win in seven innings.
Salvatore Biondo would record the first strikeout of game one in the bottom of the seventh and propel the Cougars to a 10-0 win in seven innings. Woods (2-0) would end as the winning pitcher.
GAME TWO, W 14-1
Concordia-Chicago would start off game two similarly to the first. Brandon sparked the scoring with a two RBI single, which was followed by a RBI double by Kevin Garcia to put the Cougars ahead 3-0. Matthew Uba kept the momentum rolling with a single up the middle of the field that would score Garcia and force a mound visit.
Garcia and Uba both picked up one more RBI in the top of the third with a piercing liner over the second baseman's head and a sacrifice fly to make it 6-0.
Rockford would score one in the fourth off of an error but going into the sixth Concordia-Chicago still held a 6-1 lead. CUC's next scoring came off the bat of Brody Mariotti and would score VanDuser to extend the lead to 7-1.
The Cougars proceeded to add on one more in the eighth and six in the ninth on four hits to lead to a 14-1 victory.
Brummel worked eight to pick up his second win while Robert Perna worked the final inning to close out the regular season.
CUC will begin their post season run on Thursday night. They will take on the lowest winning seed from the two morning games at 7:00pm from Kapco Park.