St. Ambrose to play St. Francis for CCAC Championship
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
St. Ambrose (IA) | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 21 | 3 |
|
Olivet Nazarene (IL) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 12 | 2 |
Photo courtesy Scott McCreary
All nine starters had at least one hit as St. Ambrose played late into the night to defeat Olivet Nazarene 14-11 to advance to the championship round of the CCAC Tournament. The Bees will face top-seed St. Francis Monday at 7 p.m. in Joliet, Ill. An SAU win would force a rematch between the two teams Tuesday night with a bid to the NAIA Tournament on the line.
St. Ambrose earned a spot in the championship round by outlasting Olivet Nazarene in a game that ended past midnight Saturday.
In a game in which the Bees never trailed, a six-run fourth inning and two late Joey Fitzgerald home runs proved to be the difference.
Brandon Matias started the scoring with a two-run home run in the top of the first. After the Tigers tied the game in the bottom of the inning, the Bees came right back in the second. Adrian Zietara had an RBI double and Noah McCreary a two-run single to build a 5-2 lead.
ONU got two runs back in the third and had the bases loaded before Jacob Bosse ended the inning with a big strikeout.
Then came the Bees' big inning. Matias had a sacrifice fly to open a 6-4 lead. Chris McFarland, Bryce Vincent and Garrett Latoz all had run-scoring singles as the margin grew to 11-4.
The Tigers chipped away to get within 11-9 after five innings. Fitzgerald hit his first solo shot in the sixth, and in the eighth, after Olivet Nazarene had pulled to within 12-11, he hit his second homer. The Bees added an additional insurance run in the eighth when Zietara doubled in Vincent.
Nathaniel Johnson and Parker Ruth, SAU's fourth and fifth pitchers of the game, closed things out.
Johnson earned the victory with three scoreless innings. Ruth pitched the ninth, getting a strikeout to end the game. Grant Baker and Frank Quinn followed Bosse, who worked the first three frames.
Zietara finished 4-for-6 at the top of the lineup, driving in two and scoring three runs. Fitzgerald, Vincent and Jake Mucha each had three hits. McCreary, Latoz and Brock Webber collected two hits apiece as part of a 21-hit game for the Bees.