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Vincent's big day carries Bees to sweep

Vincent's big day carries Bees to sweep

Bryce Vincent's two-out, two-run single capped a big day as St. Ambrose walked off with a 17-16 win in the second game of a doubleheader at Modern Woodmen Park Saturday afternoon. The Bees also won the opener 8-3 to sweep the four-game series from the Titans.

Vincent finished 5-for-6 with two home runs, seven RBIs and three runs scored in the finale. His walk-off hit wrapped up a crazy ninth inning that saw each team score four times.

After IU-South Bend (11-19, 3-9 CCAC) scored its four to go in front 16-13, St. Ambrose responded. With one out, Jake Mucha walked, Adrian Zietara singled and Brock Webber walked to load the bases. Brandon Matias lined out to center to plate Mucha. Joey Fitzgerald singled to right to score Zietara to cut the deficit to 16-15. After a wild pitch moved both pinch runner Jalen Avery and Fitzgerald into scoring position, Dan Laughery walked to reload the bases. With Ethan McCombs pinch running at second, Vincent ripped a base hit up the middle to score the tying and winning runs.

The back-and-forth contest featured several big individual performances. Zietara went 4-for-5 with a home run, two RBIs and three runs scored. Fitzgerald went 3-for-6 with two RBIs and a run scored. Garrett Latoz finished 3-for-6 with a homer, two RBIs and a run scored.

But Vincent stole the show.

The senior shortstop ripped a two-run home run to left in the second. He blasted a three-run shot to left in the seventh as part of a six-run inning that helped SAU rally from a 12-7 deficit.

It was Zietara's home run in the first that started the scoring. The Titans came back with a run in the second before the Bees went ahead 4-1 in the third. IUSB got within 4-3 in the fourth before Latoz hit his two-run home run in the fourth to up the lead to 6-3. South Bend scored five runs in the fifth to go in front 8-6. A Mucha sacrifice fly in the sixth cut the margin to 8-7. The Titans pushed across four runs in the seventh to take a 12-7 lead before RBIs from Fitzgerald, Mucha and Zietara, along with Vincent's three-run shot, put SAU back in front 13-12 setting up the ninth-inning drama.

In a game featuring 10 pitchers and more than 400 pitches thrown, Jake Jacek got the win in relief. Frank Quinn started for SAU and went four innings. Nathaniel Johnson pitched 1 2/3 and Justin Lane worked 2 1/3 before Jacek got the final three outs.

That win came on the heels of an 8-3 win in the first game Saturday. St. Ambrose broke things open with a six-run fourth, which included a grand slam off the bat of Matias.

Webber and Fitzgerald had run-scoring hits in the first and the Bees led 2-1 entering the fourth. With one run already in thanks to an IUSB error, Webber drew a walk with the bases loaded to force in another run. Matias followed with his slam to center. The Titans scored twice in the top of the seventh to end the scoring.

Matias and Fitzgerald each had two hits.

Alex Heckroth earned the win with 3 1/3 strong innings of relief. He struck out four. Joey Turek started and went the first 3 2/3 innings.

St. Ambrose (12-11, 6-4 CCAC) will host St. Francis at NelsonCorp Field in Clinton, Iowa, Monday.