Bees begin CCAC Tournament play Thursday vs. Trolls
St. Ambrose will begin the CCAC Tournament Thursday against Trinity Christian. The 3 p.m. game at the Crown Point Sportsplex in Crown Point, Ind., will be one of two games that opens the double-elimination tournament.
SAU (19-25) secured the No. 5 seed in the six-team event by finishing with an 8-8 conference record. Trinity Christian (22-24) earned the No. 4 seed with a 9-7 league mark. The two teams split a doubleheader in Palos Heights, Ill., with TCC claiming the opener 6-2 before SAU bounced back with a 5-1 victory in a game that was originally suspended tied at 1-1 after eight innings before the teams completed play at a later date.
The winner will face top-seed Saint Xavier at 5 p.m. Thursday. The loser will face an elimination game Friday at 3 p.m. Olivet Nazarene (12-24) will take on Roosevelt (16-20) in the other first-round game Thursday.
Saint Xavier (24-12) and St. Francis (26-12) shared the CCAC regular-season championship with matching 12-4 league records. The winner of the CCAC Tournament, which runs through Saturday, will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament.