Baseball finds different ways to win in NACC sweep over Dominican

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – The Concordia University Wisconsin Baseball team found different ways to win in a doubleheader sweep over Dominican University Monday afternoon. The Falcons rode the strong pitching performance of Andrew Mueller in a game one pitchers dual, before completing the sweep in a slugfest, a 12-10 game two victory.

THE BASICS
- Final Scores: Concordia Wisconsin 3, Dominican 1 (Game 1); Concordia Wisconsin 12, Dominican 10 (Game 2)
- Location: Boomers Stadium – Schaumburg, Ill.
- Records: CUW 9-10, 4-2 NACC; Dominican 9-13, 3-3 NACC

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS
- Senior Andrew Mueller (Horicon, Wis.) continued his impressive season with seven quality innings, picking up his fourth win of the season. Mueller limited Dominican to four hits with just one strikeout, while not issuing a walk.

- Junior Andrew Heideman (Bakersfield, Calif.) picked up the save by throwing two scoreless innings of relief. Heideman scattered three hits and struck out one for his first save of 2016.

- The Falcons gave Mueller some early run support with a two-run first inning. Sophomore Nathan Thyssen (Appleton, Wis.) doubled in junior Matt Schubert (West Bend, Wis.) for a 1-0 lead, while junior Bryan Thomas (Lowell, Ind.) drove in the second run for the Falcons.

- Dominican would score its run in the fourth inning, but the Falcons added a run in the eight on an RBI single from sophomore Dan Ranieri (Loves Park, Ill.). CUW had just five hits in the opener as Dominican pitcher Colin Janison went the distance, striking out six and allowing three earned.

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS
- The bats came alive in game two for both teams, but the Falcons came out on top with the 12-10 win. CUW trailed 10-8 heading into the seventh, but plated two runs in the seventh and two more in the eight for the win.

- The Falcons totaled 18 hits in the win, three each coming from Thyssen and junior Mitchell Dubnicka (Hartland, Wis.). Thyssen added two more doubles and drove scored twice. Thomas, sophomore Kyle Hilliard (Oak Forest, Ill.), junior Isaac Tewes (Chaska, Minn.) and sophomore Matt Luft (Oshkosh, Wis.) all added two hits for the Falcons.

- It was Thomas who gave the Falcons a lead in the top of the 8th with an RBI single, scoring Thyssen. The Falcons would take advantage of a Dominican error to build the lead and add some insurance heading into the bottom half of the eighth.

- Sophomore Mike Magdziarz (Frankfort, Ill.) picked up the win with 3.1 innings of shutout relief. He struck out three and allowed just two hits. Madgziarz was the fifth Falcons pitcher of the game, and the only one not to surrender a run.

- Thomas scored three times in the game two win, while Hilliard crossed the plate twice. Tewes drove in three runs and added a double, with Luft and Ranieri also doubling in the slugfest.

- The Falcons went up 5-0 in game two before Dominican cut the lead to 6-4 after three complete. The Stars would go up 7-6 with a three-run fifth, but the Falcons answered with a two-run sixth, taking the 8-7 lead. DU once again came back, scoring three runs in the bottom half of the sixth for a 10-8 lead before CUW took over in the final innings.

UP NEXT
- CUW will host Carroll in a non-conference game Wednesday at Kapco Park. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.