MEQUON, Wis. - The Rockford University baseball team opened the 2014 NACC Tournament against the top-seeded and fourth-ranked Concordia University Chicago Cougars on Thursday morning. Including this postseason, the Regents and Cougars have now met in each of the last three NACC Tournaments dating back to 2012. Concordia Chicago has had Rockford's number in those games as the Cougars defeated the Regents today for the third straight time in postseason play by a 9-3 final.
The day got off to a great start for Rockford as sophomore Cole Logemann (Lena, Ill./Lena-Winslow) drove the first pitch of the game down the right field line for a leadoff double. Despite the leadoff double, Rockford was unable to score an early run as the game entered the bottom of the first inning scoreless. Concordia Chicago then promptly took advantage of a Regent error to score an unearned run in the bottom of the first to grab a 1-0 lead.
Rockford senior pitcher Kyle Pisano (Peru, Ill./LaSalle-Peru) held down the high-powered Concordia University Chicago offense for most of the early innings. Pisano at one point retired 10 straight batters to keep Rockford within a run.
Offensively, the Regents were able to get runners on base but were unable to drive anyone in. Rockford had at least one runner in scoring position in each of the first four innings. The Regents' best scoring opportunities came in the second and fourth innings. In the second inning Rockford had runners on second and third with one out and in the fourth the Regents had the bases loaded with two outs. However, Concordia's Dan Kluss dug in on the mound to keep Rockford scoreless.
Rockford finally broke through in the top of the fifth and tied the game at 1-1. Cole Logemann was once again the catalyst for the Rockford offense as he laced his third double of the game into left center field breaking the NACC Tournament record for doubles in a game. Two batters later senior Chris Senn (Victorville, Calif./Silverado) tied the game with a two-out RBI single into left center.
However, the game did not remained tied for long as the Cougars broke the game wide open in the bottom half of the inning. Concordia Chicago used four hits and took advantage of one Rockford error to score six runs and take a 7-1 lead.
Depsite falling behind, Rockford continued to fight as they added a solo runs in the seventh and ninth innings. In the seventh, Cole Logemann collected his fourth hit of the afternoon when he drove in Adrian Gameros (Rialto, Calif./Carter) with an RBI single. In the ninth, Cole Logemann again etched his name in the record book as he ripped his fifth hit of the day tying the NACC Tournament record for hits in a game. Two batters later, Chris Senn drove in Rockford's final run of the day on a sacrifice fly, but it was not enough as the Regents fell 9-3.
Rockford returns to the diamond in an elimination game on Friday, May 9th at 10 a.m. at Kapco Park. The Regents will play the loser of the game later today between Benedictine University and Dominican University.
