Baseball suffers season-opening defeat to UMass Boston

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Concordia University Wisconsin's Baseball team began its 2013 season with a 5-4 defeat against the University of Massachusetts Boston Wednesday at the Lake Myrtle Complex.

The Beacons scored all five of their runs in innings four through six and built a 5-3 lead before CUW scored once in the eighth to cut the lead to 5-4. The Falcons had runners on second and third with two outs in the eighth inning but were unable to push through, allowing UMass Boston to escape with the 5-4 win.

CUW had a difficult time figuring out the Beacons Will Barack who was dominant on the mound, throwing seven innings of three-hit ball and striking out 16 en route to picking up the victory. The Falcons Jay Kuczynski (Cedarburg, Wis.) had success at the plate, however, as he went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs. Kurtis White finished with two RBIs for UMass Boston, while Gerard Florentino tallied a game-high three hits.

Junior Ty Wester (Germantown, Wis.) took the loss on the mound for CUW, throwing one inning of relief and allowing three runs, while striking out one. Starting pitcher Andrew Mueller (Horicon, Wis.) impressed in his season debut as he threw four innings, allowing one unearned run and three hits, while striking out two.

The Falcons struck first on Wednesday when they pushed two runs across in the bottom of the second. Freshman Buster Hebda (Firestone, Colo.) walked to lead off the inning and freshman Luke Scheuerlein (Thiensville, Wis.) followed with a double giving CUW a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs. Hebda scored on a passed ball and Kuczynski used a bunt single to bring home Scheuerlein to give the Falcons a 2-0 advantage.

UMass Boston (2-5) scored its first run in the top of the fourth to make the score 2-1 but CUW answered in the bottom of the frame when Hebda scored on a Kuczynski steal, making the score 3-1. That lead would not last for the Falcons as the Beacons scored three times in the fifth and once more in the sixth to make the score 5-3. CUW added a run in the eighth to cut the lead to one but UMass Boston would hold on for the 5-4 win.

The Falcons (0-1) return to the diamond tomorrow when they take on Grinnell College at 3:30 p.m. EDT in Lake Myrtle, Fla.