Hougesen helps Baseball to doubleheader split against MSOE

MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia University Wisconsin Baseball team opened a Sunday twinbill against MSOE with another strong pitching performance against the Raiders, something that had been common in the series over recent years. The Falcons got eight scoreless from freshman Seth Hougesen for a 4-0 game one win, but fell by a 7-2 score in game two, splitting the doubleheader at Kapco Park.

THE BASICS
- Final Scores: Concordia Wisconsin 4, MSOE 0 (Game 1); MSOE 7, Concordia Wisconsin 2 (Game 2)
- Location: Kapco Park – Mequon, Wis.
- Records: Concordia Wisconsin 18-17, 11-7 NACC; MSOE 19-18, 10-7 NACC

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS
- Hougesen turned in his third straight quality start and ran his scoreless innings streak to 16 with eight strong against the Raiders. He struck out four and scattered six hits, while issuing just one free pass. He turned the ball over to sophomore Joey Schuman (New Lenox, Ill.) for the ninth with Schuman setting the side down in order.

- The Falcons offense scored all four of their runs in the fourth in the opener. Highlighting the frame was an RBI triple from sophomore Anthony Lombardi (Kildeer, Ill.), which scored junior Isaac Tewes (Chaska, Minn.). Sophomore Kyle Hilliard (Oak Forest, Ill.) doubled to start the rally and Tewes drove him in with a single.

- Adding RBI in the four-run fourth was junior Matt Schubert (West Bend, Wis.) and senior Nate Van Ells (Greendale, Wis.), who drove his run in with a squeeze bunt.

- Junior Mitchells Dubnicka (Hartland, Wis.), Hilliard and Lombardi paced the Falcons attack with two hits apiece in the opener. MSOE starter Jacob Roley tossed a complete game, allowing four earned over eight innings with one strikeout.

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS
- CUW came out strong in game two, scoring once each in the first two innings, which put them ahead 2-1 after two. The Raiders would respond with a five-run third and added one in the ninth for the 7-2 victory.

- Dubnicka had three hits and scored a run for the Falcons, while Hilliard and sophomore Dan Ranieri (Loves Park, Ill.) drove in runs. Sophomore Nathan Thyssen (Appleton, Wis.) junior Bryan Thomas (Lowell, Ind.) each collected a pair of hits for the Falcons.

- The Raiders got two hits and two-RBI from Own Burnikel and two more hits and a couple of runs scored from Nick Gross in game two. Sam Crawford picked up the win for MSOE, allowing two runs in 5.1 innings of work. Michael Boehmer earned the save with 3.2 innings, striking out four compared to giving up just a pair of hits.

- Senior Tyler Gross (Wauwatosa, Wis.) took the loss for CUW, allowing six runs, four earned, over 2.1 innings. Senior Josh Ruppel (Belgium, Wis.) was highly effective in relief, allowing just one hit in 5.2 scoreless frames.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The stat of the day from radio man Matt Menzl: until the second inning of game two, CUW had gone 29 straight innings without allowing a run to MSOE. The Falcons shutout in game one was paired with two shutouts from a season ago for 27 of the 29 scoreless innings.

UP NEXT
- CUW will host No. 6 UW-Whitewater in a non-conference doubleheader Wednesday. First pitch from Kapco Park will be at 3 p.m.