No. 15 Spartans Snag Baseball

AURORA, Ill. – For the second-straight weekend, the Concordia Wisconsin baseball team battled a top-20 team in the nation. The 15^th-ranked Spartans of Aurora defended their home turf with a 9-4, 12-2 pair of victories to improve to 18-5 and 8-2 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. The Falcons are now 11-12 on the year and 6-4 in NACC play.

The Falcons threatened first on Saturday with senior Cole Aguirre (Chino Hills, Calif.) reaching second base after a single and a walk from junior Brynden Cleveland (Crestwood, Ill.).

The Spartans struck first in the bottom of the first inning with three runs.

The Falcons applied pressure again in the second inning with runners on the corners, but could not capitalize.

The Black and Blue responded with three more runs in the second inning and one more in the third inning.

The Birds found the scoreboard in the fourth inning when sophomore Matt Miller (Fredonia, Wis.) singled through the left side of the infield just out of the reach of the shortstop to score junior Kyle Flynn (Nashville, Tenn.) from second base.

Miller then scored on a double into the gap in left field from Owen Burns.

Aurora added to its lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with a solo home run.

The Spartans pushed the lead to 9-2 on a wild pitch in the sixth inning.

The Falcons continued to fight and scored two runs in the seventh inning. Brynden Cleveland started the comeback attempt with a double into left-center field to score Cole Aguirre. Sophomore Tyler Murray (Kankakee, Ill.) later singled to right field to score Cleveland.

Junior Holter Gette (Batavia, Ill.) had a solid performance from the bullpen with only one hit against in two innings and finishing with four strikeouts.

Matt Miller had a game-high three hits in game one.

The Spartans struck first in game two with a double that plated a run in the first inning. They added three more runs in the second inning and one more in the third inning.

The Black and Blue doubled the lead with five runs in the fourth inning.

The Falcons scored in the fifth inning on a balk that allowed freshman Connor Lasch (Chicago, Ill.) to trot across home plate.

The Spartans added a run back to their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning and were looking for more with the bases loaded. Sophomore Tyler Bartczak (Crestwood, Ill.) came onto the mound and recorded two strikeouts to end the threat.

The Falcons struck again in the sixth inning when freshman Ryan Le (Orland Park, Ill.) had a sacrifice fly to left field that allowed Kyle Flynn to cross home plate.

Aurora added a run in the seventh inning to end the game.

Cole Aguirre led Concordia with two hits in game two.

The Falcons look to return to the win column again on Wednesday when they travel to Edgewood.