Bees unable to hold onto early lead in CCAC Tourney opener
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Roosevelt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 1 |
|
St. Ambrose | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 2 |
St. Ambrose got off to a great start but couldn't hold on and now the Bees will have their backs against the wall in an elimination game at the CCAC Tournament Friday morning.
SAU plated three runs in the first inning and led 4-0 after three before ultimately falling to Roosevelt 12-5 in a first round game of the league tournament Thursday afternoon in Joliet, Ill.
The Bees, who entered the postseason as the conference's No. 2 seed, will face Olivet Nazarene at 10 a.m. Friday.
It appeared St. Ambrose would cruise into the second round after the fast start. After Noah McCreary was hit by a pitch to open the bottom of the first, Cooper Huckabone got the scoring started with a triple to right. Bryce Vincent reached on a fielder's choice to plate Huckabone and Chris McFarland made it 3-0 with a double to score Brock Webber.
Huckabone also tripled leading off the third before ultimately scoring on a wild pitch to push the lead to 4-0.
But after collecting four hits through the game's first three innings, SAU managed just two hits the rest of the way.
Roosevelt got back into the game with a three-run fourth and took the lead for good with a four-run fifth. Jake Mucha had an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to get the Bees to within 7-5 but the Lakers scored two in the sixth, one in the seventh and two more in the ninth to pull away.
Adrian Zietara and Mike Pawyza each had a hit for SAU.
Nick Vollmert was charged with the loss in relief of Conor O'Hara. Grant Baker, Nathaniel Johnson and Brad Niedzwiedz also pitched in relief.