Late Game Heroics Send Falcons Past Edgewood in NACC Tournament

MEQUON, Wis. - In the opening round of the Northern Athletics Collegiate College (NACC) Tournament, Concordia University Wisconsin baseball completed an epic comeback over the Eagles of Edgewood in 10 innings, scoring eight of their nine runs in the final three innings to secure the 9-6 victory. 

The Eagles struck first and scored all six of their runs in the bottom of the second.

But CUW would regain its composure as the bullpen managed to keep the game within reach.

Sophomore Nikolai Nawracaj (New Lenox, Ill.) came in with one out in the third and struck out the first batter he saw before getting the final out of the inning with a grounder to the mound.

Meanwhile, in the bottom of the fourth, freshman Alex Kuntz (Richfield, Wis.) got two Eagles to go down swinging, keeping the score in favor of Edgewood 6-0.

CUW would end its scoring drought in the top of the fifth, as senior Jack Owens (Chicago, Ill.) used his speed to score from second after an error from Edgewood occurred on a double-play attempt, cutting the Falcons's deficit to five. 

On the defensive end, Kuntz continued to mow down the Eagles, going 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth while keeping EC scoreless in the bottom of the sixth. 

The excellent pitching continued as junior Luke Bruckner came in during the middle of the seventh and held them scoreless, heading into the top of the eighth.

With six outs remaining, Concordia embarked on their comeback effort, as they scored two runs in the inning. Freshman Connor Lasch (Chicago, Ill.) crossed the first run with a single to center, scoring junior Kyle Flynn (Nashville, Tenn.). Later in the inning, with two outs, freshman Hayden Reich (Sussex, Wis.) knocked in senior Cody Maier (Mandan, N.D.), who singled earlier in the inning to inch the Blue and White closer as the score sat now at 6-3.

In the bottom half of the eighth, Bruckner continued to groove and, once again, kept the Eagles without any offensive opportunities. 

The top of the ninth started with a double from senior Cole Aguirre (Chino Hills, Calif.). In the next at-bat, senior Jimmy Juergensen drilled an inside pitch down the right field line, with the ball landing just inside of the foul pole for a two-run home run, as CUW now trailed by just one.

Down to their final out in the top of the ninth, still behind a run, Connor Lasch delivered another clutch hit, driving a double down the left field line, scoring Flynn from second, leveling the score at six apiece. 

In the bottom half of the ninth, the Falcons went three up and three down to force extras.

CUW started at the top of the 10th with back-to-back singles from freshman Jordan Vazquez (Chicago, Ill.) and Cole Aguirre.

Sophomore Matt Miller (Fredonia, Wis.) would walk to load the bases, bringing up Kyle Flynn with two outs.

Flynn then lined a ball to the left-center gap, dropping and getting by the outstretched dive of the center fielder to score three runs and give Concordia their first lead of the game at 9-6. 

Luke Bruckner returned to the mound in the bottom of the inning, looking to lock up the win. Bruckner got the first batter to strikeout, while the second lined out to center. The third and final batter rolled a soft dribbler to Jordan Vazquez at short, who completed a nice on-the-run throw to Juergensen at first to secure the 9-6 victory.

Six Falcons put together multi-hit performances, including Jordan Vazquez, Cole Aguirre, Jimmy Juergensen, Matt Miller, and Connor Lasch. 

Of those six, Aguirre and Lasch had a double, Flynn had the game's lone triple, and Juergensen delivered a home run. With his triple, Flynn had a game-leading three RBIs. 

On the pitching side, junior Zach Slome (Schaumburg, Ill.) faced a team-high 18 batters. Meanwhile, Nikolai Nawracaj pitched one inning and recorded two strikeouts with no earned runs. Meanwhile, both Alex Kuntz and Luke Bruckner pitched 3.1 innings. Kuntz had six strikeouts and earned runs, while Bruckner picked up the win to improve to 3-2 on the season. 

With the win, the Falcons advance to the next round of the NACC Tournament and take on the Scarlet Hawks of Illinois Tech at 1:00 p.m. CST at Benedictine University.