Concordia University-Chicago (Ill.) 7, St. Scholastica (Minn.) 4La Crosse, Wis. - Concordia University-Chicago (Ill.) stayed alive Thursday at the NCAA Division III Baseball Midwest Regional at Copeland Park with a 7-4 victory over The College of St. Scholastica (Minn.). Concordia-Chicago (Ill.) improves to 31-14 on the season and will play Friday, May 15 at 10 a.m. against the loser of the Ripon College (Wis.)/Coe College (Iowa) game scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Thursday. St. Scholastica (Minn.) ends its season at 32-13.
Concordia-Chicago (Ill.) opened the scoring in the bottom of the first as lead-off hitter Jeff Von Moser homered to left to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the third, Mitch Wilson doubled to left center with two outs followed by a Carlos Olavarria single to center field, driving in Wilson to give the Concordia-Chicago (Ill.) a 2-0 lead.
St. Scholastica (Wis.) cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the fourth as Austin Colvard scored on a Trevor Bernsdorf RBI single. The Saints tied the game in the top of the fifth on Shayne Ciernia's solo home run.
The Cougars pulled back ahead in the bottom of the sixth with three runs. Von Moser walked to start the frame, stole second and moved to third on Wilson's single. Olavarria followed with a grounder to third base and the throw to second to force Wilson was dropped by the second baseman. Von Moser broke from third base and scored after an errant throw home, making the score 3-2. Wilson moved to third and Olavarria to second. Wilson scored on a passed ball, making it 4-2, with Olavarria moving to third. Brent Spohr hit a ground ball scoring Olavarria, giving Concordia-Chicago (Ill.) a 5-2 advantage.
The Saints scored two in the seventh to keep pace on Chris Olson's double down the right field line scoring Ciernia and Brian Minks to make it 5-4.
Colin Bethran led off the bottom of the seventh for Concordia-Chicago (Ill.) with a single and advanced to second when Von Moser was hit-by-pitch. They moved to second and third after a balk and Bethran scored on Wilson's groundout to make it 6-4. The Cougars added another run in the bottom of the eighth. Rich Santarelli reached on a bunt single and stole second. Bethran beat out an infield single, advancing Santarelli to third. A double steal allowed Santarelli to score and put Concordia-Chicago (Ill.) ahead 7-4.
Eric Palmer (4-1) earned the win for Concordia-Chicago (Ill.), pitching 6.1 innings. He allowed four runs on five hits and two walks while striking out six. Robert Lock picked up his second save, pitching the final 1.2 innings with one strikeout. Wilson finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored, double and RBI. Bethran also went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base.
Daniel Wood (9-1) suffered his first loss of the season for St. Scholastica (Minn.). He went 5.1 innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on six hits and one walk while striking out two. Olson had two RBI and a double for the Saints while Ciernia scored two runs with a home run, walk and RBI.
