Bees rally twice to sweep opening doubleheader from Trolls
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Trinity Christian (IL) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 16 | 1 |
|
St. Ambrose (IA) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | X | 7 | 10 | 1 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Trinity Christian (IL) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
|
St. Ambrose (IA) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | X | 5 | 8 | 1 |
A pair of late-inning rallies helped St. Ambrose sweep a doubleheader at Trinity Christian by scores of 7-6 and 5-4 Friday afternoon.
The Bees trailed 5-0 entering the sixth inning of the first game and were behind 4-3 going into the bottom of the sixth in the second game.
In the opener, a Michael Stupavsky pinch-hit home run got SAU on the board. And an inning later, trailing 5-1, the Bees exploded for six runs.
Michael Rago started the inning with a single before Jake Pauley walked. A wild pitch moved both runners up a base and Quinn Flanagan followed with a sacrifice fly to score Rago. Filip Milatovic then grounded out to bring in Pauley to cut the deficit to 5-3.
Stupavsky drew a walk before Bryce Vorwald doubled him in. Matthew McBrien was hit by a pitch and then Mason Heitzler blasted a three-run homer to left to put St. Ambrose (11-10, 6-2 CCAC) in front 7-5.
Trinity Christian (11-12, 5-6 CCAC) got one run back in the ninth before Aidan Stratton worked out of a little trouble to close out the win.
Noah Chase, the third of five SAU pitchers in the game, earned the win by striking out two over 1 2/3 innings. Connor Bird started and worked 2 1/3 before giving way to Aidan Pieniazek, who tossed three scoreless innings. Michael Moise threw a perfect eighth before Stratton earned his third save of the season.
Heitzler and Rago each finished with two hits. Pauley, Flanagan, Milatovic and Aaron Vertuno also had hits.
Thanks to RBI singles from Milatovic and Vorwald in the first and a run-scoring triple from Pauley in the second, the Bees led the second game 3-1 early.
The Trolls rallied to tie the game in the third and took a 4-3 lead in the sixth.
But in the bottom of the frame, Eric Gonzalez reached on a two-out single before Rago launched a two-run home run to give the Bees the lead.
TCC had a two-out hit in the seventh but left him there.
Gonzalez and Rago each collected two hits.
Jack Kerpan earned the win in relief of Dominic Guzman. Kerpan allowed two hits without surrendering a run over 1 2/3 innings. Guzman struck out 10 over 5 1/3 innings.
The two teams will complete their four-game series in Palos Heights, Ill., with a doubleheader Saturday.