Bees earn two seed with Senior Day victories
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Calumet (IN) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 2 |
|
St. Ambrose (IA) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | X | 15 | 14 | 1 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Calumet (IN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 1 |
|
St. Ambrose (IA) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | X | 10 | 9 | 1 |
St. Ambrose guaranteed itself at least a share of second place and the two seed in the upcoming CCAC Tournament by sweeping a doubleheader from Calumet Saturday.
The Bees won by scores of 15-2 and 10-2 in the Senior Day games played at Black Hawk College in Moline, Ill.
Between games, St. Ambrose recognized its 16 seniors: Daniel Laughery, Jacob Bosse, Justin Lane, Brandon Matias, Joey Fitzgerald Jr., Nathaniel Johnson, Michael Betancourt, Brandon Roth, Brad Niedzwiedz, Sergio Marchizza, Jeremy Conforti, Parker Ruth, Joe Turek, Danny Molony, Hayden Kingsbury and Carson Johnson.
Those seniors were instrumental in the two wins that wrapped up the regular season.
Conforti homered as part of a two-hit, four-RBI game in the opener. Fitzgerald picked up three hits. Jake Pauley finished 4-for-4 with four RBIs and matched Laughery, Conforti, Roth, Ethan McCombs and Kevin Niedzwiedz with two runs scored.
Laughery, Matias, Niedzwiedz, Filip Milatovic and Caden Thode also had hits.
Matias got the scoring started with a two-run double in the first. Fitzgerald added an RBI single in the frame. Conforti's three-run blast followed Pauley's run-scoring single that pushed the lead to 7-0 in the fourth.
The Bees pushed across four more runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to cruise to victory.
Bosse earned the win after striking out four over 4 2/3 innings. Lane pitched 1 1/3 innings before Carson Johnson pitched the seventh.
A total of seven Bees pitched in the regular-season finale.
Garrett Vincent picked up the victory with three innings of work. He struck out four. Six pitchers then each went one inning apiece. Marchizza, Nathaniel Johnson, Danny Molony, Ruth, Chase Martin and Aaron Vertuno combined to allow just four hits and one run over the final six innings.
Laughery and Roth each had two hits and Conforti and Matias went deep. Roth, Conforti and Fitzgerald each drove in a pair of runs.
SAU scored at least one run in six of their eight innings at the plate. The Bees led 7-1 after three before tacking on single runs in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings.
St. Ambrose (25-23, 20-12 CCAC) will open the CCAC Tournament Wednesday as the No. 2 seed.