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Box Score 2 RIVER FOREST, Ill. (WLCSports.com) - The Wisconsin Lutheran College baseball team went head-to-head with second-ranked Concordia Chicago for nearly nine innings before the Cougars walked-off for a 2-1 win over the Warriors in game one of their doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Cougar Field. CUC won game two in seven innings, 11-0.
- Final Scores: No. 2 Concordia Chicago 2, Wisconsin Lutheran 1; No. 2 Concordia Chicago 11, Wisconsin Lutheran 0 (7 Inn.)
- Records: Wisconsin Lutheran (8-11, 1-4 NACC), Concordia Chicago (17-1, 6-0 NACC)
- Location: Cougar Field, River Forest, Ill.
- The Cougars plated an early first-inning run behind an RBI single from Brayden Benavides for a 1-0 lead.
- The Warriors put runners on the corners with two outs in the third, but were unable to drive in the tying run.
- Both offenses were held in check over the next four-and-a-half innings as Warriors starter Jake Wiedower (St. Francis, Wis.) allowed only four CUC runners to reach base.
- WLC knotted the score at 1-1 in the eighth after Gunner Amelunk (Wales, Wis.) scored on a one-out sacrifice fly off the bat of Brannigan Hart (Davie, Fla.). Amelunk led off the inning with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on a groundout.
Wiedower surrendered a leadoff single in the eighth, but escaped the inning with a sacrifice and a pair of strikeouts.
- Keegan Tyrell singled with one out in the ninth for CUC, and stole second following a strikeout. Justin Rodriguez followed with a single through the left side that scored the game-winning run.
- Jake Schwall (West Allis, Wis.), Sid Lehman (Theresa, Wis.), Joey Tilley (Muskego, Wis.), and Amelunk accounted for the four Warriors hits in the opener.
- Wiedower struckout a career-high 10 batters over 8.2 innings, allowing just two runs while scattering 10 hits.
- The Cougars responded in game two by plating runs in each of the first four innings for a 7-0 lead over the Warriors. CUC collected at least two hits in three of the four frames.
- WLC threatened for the first time in the fifth inning with leadoff singles from Nick Poblocki (Bartlett, Ill.) and Matthew Schulenburg (Hampshire, Ill.). Both runners were stranded in scoring position as CUC escaped without any damage.
- Concordia Chicago started its sixth inning with four straight hits and scored four runs, highlighted by a three-run homerun.
- Wisconsin Lutheran loaded the bases in the seventh with two outs, but couldn't cross a run home and the contest ended after six-and-a-half.
- Poblocki led the Warriors with two hits in the nightcap.
- Brody Mariotti went 3-for-4 for the Cougars in the opener, with Benavides and Rodriguez recording RBIs. Zach Litke pitched the final 2.0 innings of relief for starter Kyle Strepek to earn the win.
- Bryan Vanduser went 4-for-4 with three RBI and three runs for CUC in game two. Cole Carmen pitched 6.0 shutout innings while striking out seven to improve to 4-0 on the year.
- The Warriors return home Sunday for a NACC doubleheader against Edgewood (4-13, 2-4 NACC). The Eagles split a pair of conference contests against Lakeland Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at Neumann Family Field.
