TIGERS SPLIT A DOUBLEHEADER AT ST. AMBROSE

DAVENPORT, Iowa – The Olivet Nazarene University baseball program (14-12, 4-1) split a doubleheader against Saint Ambrose (7-17, 2-2) on the road Tuesday. The Tigers rallied in the seventh inning to claim the first game 8-6. Then, took a 7-3 loss to end the day to the Fighting Bees. Taylor Steig, the reigning CCAC Player of the Week, remained hot registering four of ONU's eight RBIs on the afternoon with two hits which included a double, his team-leading 10^th of the year.

The Tigers fell into a 4-2 hole entering the top of the seventh inning before rallying for six runs to steal game one of the doubleheader. Steig sparked the comeback taking a pitch to the body with the bases loaded to cut the deficit to one run. Geon Yoon gave ONU their first lead of the day. His pinch-hit single back up the middle scored Kai Hudson and Jack Dupuis. Donovan Yelle and Jordan Rhoden provided the essential insurance runs. Yelle hit a double down the left-field line and Rhoden provided an RBI sacrifice bunt for the sixth and seventh runs. Olivet's scoring rounded out with Yelle scoring on a wild pitch.

Rhoden picked up his first save of the season pitching for the final three outs. Logan Marx earned his first win of the season. Thomas Burns took the mound as the starter and went five innings and allowing only one earned run with two strikeouts.

Saint Ambrose led most of the second game of the doubleheader scoring the first three runs of the contest. They benefitted from a two-run home run in the bottom of the second inning followed by an RBI single in the third. Steig picked up his third RBI of the day in the fourth inning to put the Tigers on the board with a ground out to the shortstop allowing Dupuis to score. The first baseman hit an RBI double in his next at-bat in the sixth inning to score Hudson and make it a one-run game. He then tied the game at 3-3 after scoring on an SAU wild pitch.

The Fighting Bees responded by closing out the game with four unanswered runs. They put up three runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning and then added another in the eighth.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Tigers are back in action this weekend as they begin a three-game series this weekend against the Lakers of Roosevelt. They will play at Ozinga Field to open the series this Friday, March 24 with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. CT. They will conclude the series with a doubleheader at Watson Field the following day Saturday with game one beginning at 11 a.m. CT. Please visit ONUTigers.com for all the updated links to follow along.

--ONU—

*Contact: Patrick Kaindl, Sports Information Graduate Assistant; email pkaindl@olivet.edu