Baseball starts strong in NACC Tournament win over Aurora

MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia University Wisconsin Baseball team jumped out to a big lead en route to an 11- 6 win over Aurora University at the NACC Baseball Tournament Thursday. The Falcons advance to the 7 p.m. game Friday and will face the winner of Concordia Chicago and Benedictine.

THE BASICS
- Final Score: Concordia Wisconsin 11, Aurora 6
- Location: Kapco Park – Mequon, Wisconsin
- Records: CUW 27-11; Aurora 25-15

THYSSEN AND PLACHINSKI POSTGAME

HOW IT HAPPENED
- CUW jumped all over Aurora, scoring 10 times over its first four at-bats for a 10-0 lead. The hitting started in the bottom of the first with four runs, beginning with a RBI double off the bat of Matt Schubert (West Bend, Wis.). Kyle Hilliard (Oak Forest, Ill.) and Isaac Tewes (Chaska, Minn.) added RBI singles in the first.

- The Falcons would add one in the second and three in the third inning before Nathan Thyssen (Appleton, Wis.) made the score 10-0 with a two-run blast over the right-field wall in the fourth. Thyssen led the way with three RBIs on Thursday and finished the game with two hits.

- Matt Luft (Oshkosh, Wis.) paced the Falcons with four hits from No. 2 spot in the order, scoring three runs as well. Luft also had three steals in the game, very impressive considering he had three all season entering Thursday (Matt Menzl stat of the day).

- Dan Ranieri (Loves Park, Ill.), Schubert, Thomas and Tewes all added two hits as well for the Falcons. Thomas and Schubert both doubled in the win, Schubert's being his school-record 20th of the season.

- Matthew Olig (Plymouth, Wis.) went five strong in gaining the win on the mound for the Falcons. Olig did not surrender an earned run but was charged with three runs in the contest. Niko Kutsulis (Homer Glenn, Ill.) threw two scoreless frames in relief and Scott Plachinksi (South Milwaukee, Wis.) worked a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The Falcons were aggressive on the bases with five steals in the NACC Tournament opener. Luft had three of those, while Schubert and Ranieri each had one.

UP NEXT
- The Falcons will play at 7 p.m. tomorrow in a game that will feature the final two unbeaten teams in the 2017 NACC Tournament.