Baseball falls to DU, downs BU to remain in NACC Tournament

MEQUON, Wis. – Joel Sharon turned in eight strong innings in an 8-2 win over Benedictine University, helping ensure the Concordia University Wisconsin Baseball Team would remain alive in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Baseball Tournament. The Falcons win moved them along to Saturday as they are one of the final three teams remaining in the field.

Sharon's gem followed a disappointing 9-4 loss to Dominican University to begin the day. That loss put the Falcons in an elimination game against No. 2 Benedictine and Sharon and the Falcons offense moved them into Saturday.

The Falcons will await tonight's final NACC Tournament Game to find out their opponent tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. CUW will take on the loser of the final two remaining unbeaten, Concordia Chicago and Dominican. The winner of the 10 a.m. game will then face the winner of tonight's game at 1 p.m. in a first championship game. An if necessary game would take place Sunday at 10 a.m.

Sharon (Glendale, Wis.) struck out five batters and scattered seven hits in his eight innings of work, picking up his first win of the season. The Falcons offense, which pounded out 15 hits, was paced by junior Brandon Seifert (Germantown, Wis.) as he went 4-for-5 with two RBIs. Senior Beau Burgert (Oshkosh, Wis.) also drove in two and went 2-for-5 in the win.

A four-run second inning jump-started the Falcons as four different players ripped RBI singles. Freshman Isaac Tewes (Chaska, Minn.) put CUW up 1-0, while freshman Tyler Crass (Glendale, Wis.), Seifert and Burgert all singled in runs to make the score 4-0.

CUW would add three more in the fourth, one of those coming on an RBI double from Burgert. Seifert then singled in freshman Bryan Thomas (Lowell, Ind.) in the fifth inning, making the score 8-1 in favor of the Falcons at the time.

Tewes and freshman Matt Schubert (West Bend, Wis.) added two hits for the Falcons offense as all nine players recorded at least one base hit. Just as impressive is the fact that CUW had seven of nine starters score a run, including Tewes who scored twice.

In the opener Dominican jumped out to a 5-0 lead, chasing Falcons starter Austin Baglow (Walled Lake, Mich.) early. The Falcons would score two runs in the third and two more in the sixth, but DU answered with two in the bottom of each of those frames and led by four for much of the game.

Schubert and Burgert each had three hits for CUW in game one with Burgert adding a double. Thomas had an RBI triple in the game as well for the Falcons. DU was led by Lucas McKinney and Quinlan Milne Rojek as each player recorded three hits, while Thomas Smith had a two-RBI triple in the first.

Ryan Kukla got the win for the Stars, pitching 5.2 innings and allowing four runs. Chance Emlund picked up his first save of the season by throwing the final 3.1 innings, allowing no runs and striking out two. Freshman Dylan Gausman (Eagan, Minn.) threw seven innings for the Falcons in relief, allowing four earned.