Baseball season comes to an end in NACC Tournament title game

MEQUON, Wis. – For the second straight year the Concordia University Wisconsin Baseball team saw its season come to an end in the NACC Championship game against Concordia University Chicago. In 2015, the Falcons were one hit away from taking the lead in the ninth inning, but the Cougars held on for a 5-4 win, capturing their third straight NACC Championship.

The Falcons, who defeated Benedictine by a 4-2 score earlier in the day, still ended up setting a program record for wins in a season with 25. The team continues to make progress under second year coach Eddy Morgan and figures to be a regular player in the NACC Tournament for years to come.

In the title tilt with the top-seeded Cougars, CUW trailed 5-1 entering the seventh inning before plating two runs to make the score 5-3. Senior Joel Sharon (Milwaukee, Wis.), who also served as the Falcons starting pitcher, had an RBI single in the two-run seventh.

CUW would head to the top of the ninth trailing by two, but would certainly makes things interesting in their last at bat. Two of the first three Falcons batters, Kyle Hegeman (New Berlin, Wis.) and Bryan Thomas (Lowell, Ind.) walked. With two outs, sophomore Isaac Tewes (Chaska, Minn.) singled, loading the bases for freshman Nathan Thyssen. Thyssen (Appleton, Wis.) was hit by the first pitch he saw, but CUC was able to get the final out, a fly out to right, to end the game.

Sharon and sophomore Matt Schubert (West Bend, Wis.) each had two hits to pace the Falcons in the title game. Sharon was also the pitcher of record and tossed 5.1 innings, giving up five runs , four earned. Junior Tyler Gross (Wauwatosa, Wis.) threw 2.2 scoreless innings of relief, yielding just one hit in his time on the mound.

Concordia Chicago got two hits from Doug Matthews, who also scored twice, while Rich Santarelli added a pair of hits as well. Alex Meyers picked up the win for the Cougars, throwing seven innings, while Matt McTague recorded the save, throwing the final one-third of an inning.

The day for the Falcons started with a pitching gem from junior Josh Ruppel (Belgium, Wis.). Ruppel delivered a gutsy 145-pitch performance, throwing eight innings, while allowing one earned. He added eight strikeouts in his third win of the season. Sophomore Dylan Gausman (Eagan, Minn.) came on for the save, his second of the year.

Two of the Falcons four runs were driven in by freshman Dan Ranieri (Loves Park, Ill.) in the win over the Eagles. Ranieri had an RBI double in the second, while adding an RBI hit by pitch in the sixth inning. Thyssen, who also doubled, finished with two hits, as did Ranieri, Schubert and senior Brandon Seifert (Germantown, Wis.). Sharon added a double for the Falcons.

Mike Spalla took the loss for Benedictine, throwing 5.1 innings but giving up just one earned run. Tim Hendricks added a double for the Eagles, who lost in the first game of the day as well, an 8-0 contest against Concordia Chicago.