SEASON COMES TO AN END IN CCAC TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS

JOLIET, Ill. – After picking up a pair of wins on the first day of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Tournament, the Olivet Nazarene University baseball team bowed out of the double-elimination competition with a pair of losses Saturday afternoon at the Duly Health and Medical Field.

The Tigers had the offense but could not keep their opponents off the scoreboard themselves as they fell to top-seeded St. Francis (Ill.) 11-8 in the winners' bracket before falling 14-11 to St. Ambrose in the lower bracket to be eliminated from the tournament.

With a spot in the CCAC Tournament Final on the line, the Fighting Saints struck first in the opener with a four-spot third inning to race out in front. The Tigers responded with a pair of runs on RBI singles from Kai Hudson and Taylor Steig in their half of the third, then cut the deficit to one with an RBI single off the bat of Jack Dupuis.

St. Francis put up another four spot, this time in the fifth inning, to punch the lead back up to 8-3. Dupuis recorded his second RBI with a sacrifice fly to get ONU back on the board in the sixth. In the seventh inning, Joeseph Jimenez plated a run with an RBI before Evan Pogioli unloaded a three-run homer to tie the game at 8-8.

But the Fighting Saints plated three runs in the ninth inning to reclaim the lead and eventually win the game 11-3. Jeffrey Vest was given the loss in relief.

The Tigers put up 11 runs of their own in the rematch against St. Ambrose in the lower bracket, but the Fighting Bees pumped out 14 runs to outgun ONU and eliminate them from the CCAC Tournament.

St. Ambrose put up 11 runs by the end of the fourth inning to jump in front. The Tigers did their best to keep pace behind multi-RBI games from Steig and Pogioli, but couldn't completely erase the deficit in the 14-11 setback.

The Purple & Yellow Gold finished the season with a 24-29 overall record.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu