RIVER FOREST, Ill. – The Edgewood College baseball team pushed fourth-ranked Concordia University Chicago to the limit on Saturday, but the Cougars had an answer every time the Eagles scored. CUC held off the Eagles for 13-10 and 7-6 victories in the NACC opener for both teams. Nick Cheaney had seven hits on the day, and Garrett Bogucki crushed a grand slam to highlight the Eagles' day.
Edgewood College (3-10, 0-2 NACC) opened the day with a bang, as Bogucki crushed a first inning grand slam in game one to give the Eagles a 4-0 lead. As they would all afternoon, Concordia University Chicago (14-4, 2-0 NACC) answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning. After trading runs in the third, the Eagles forged ahead in the fourth. Cheaney dumped a two-out, bases loaded single into short center field which cleared the bases and gave the Eagles an 8-6 lead. But again, the Cougars matched the Eagles with three runs in the fourth for a 9-8 lead.
Bogucki added two more RBIs in the sixth with a two-run single which lifted the Eagles to a 10-9 lead, but that was the last runs the Eagles would score. Concordia Chicago added two runs in the sixth and two insurance runs in the eighth to secure the win.
Cheaney went a career-best 5-for-5 with five singles, for just the 10th five-hit game by an Eagle in program history. He was the first Eagle to get five hits in a game since Andrew Laurtizen in 2015. Bogucki doubled his career-high runs batted in total with six for the game. He finished 2-for-3 including his monster first inning grand slam. Adam Eck started the game and lasted five innings, striking out six and allowing nine runs on 11 hits. Logan Pitts pitched the final three innings and gave up four runs to take the loss.
In the second game, Cheaney continued his hot hitting with an RBi single in the first to give Edgewood College a 1-0 lead. However, the Cougars responded with runs in the first and second for a 4-1 advantage. CUC led 5-1 when Alex Fowler started to chip away at the lead with an infield single that scored Josh Ottum in the fifth.
The Eagles closed the gap more in the top of the eighth when Fowler singled, and Jeff Tucker scored on an error by the Cougars outfield, and Cheaney followed with another RBI single. The Eagles trailed 6-4 heading to the ninth, but rallied to tie the game. After loading the bases with two outs, Ryan Fields stroked a two-run double down the right field line to score Austin Kraus and Patrick Wardlaw and tie the game 6-6. However, the Cougars again had the last word as Bryan VanDuser hit a one-out, game-winning single to claim a 7-6 victory for CUC.
Steve Gavin went the entire game for Edgewood College, striking out five in 8.1 innings of work. Fowler had three hits and a stolen base, while Cheaney went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in. Cheaney finished the day 7-for-9 and raised his batting average to .476 on the season. Fields had the Eagles only extra base hit, with his two-run double.
Edgewood College will be back in action on Easter Monday, facing UW-Platteville in a non-conference single game at 3:00 in Platteville.
