[Baseball] Bees fall to lower bracket against surging Saint X

After hanging on against Roosevelt in the opening round of the CCAC Tournament, the Fighting Bees could not find the fire power to keep up in the second round against Saint Xavier.

St. Ambrose ran into the sixth-seeded Saint Xavier Cougars as they just started to heat up. As the sixth seed, Saint Xavier had to earn their spot in the tournament in a play-in matchup against Lincoln. After dispatching Lincoln in the play-in round, Saint Xavier pulled off an upset victory over the third-seeded Judson Eagles on Friday.

The Bees could not score the runs they needed to slow down the surging Cougars, falling 5-1 in the second round.

The game was close throughout the first four innings of play. After Saint Xavier scored the first run in the bottom of the first, designated hitter Max Rumpf tied the game up with an RBI double that scored Shawn Rigsby from first base.

However, the Bees were not able to push across any more runs for the remainder of the game. St. Ambrose starter Colton Carr's great pitching performance gave way in the bottom of the fifth when the Cougars were able to bring three runs home and put the game out of reach for the Bees.

Carr went six complete innings as the starter in the secound round matchup with St. Xavier, scattering eight hits and delivering one strikeout. James Cormier pitched the final two innings in relief, punching out two and limiting the Cougars to one earned run. Carr surrendered four runs in the loss.

With the Bees down to their last life, they will have to win out if they want to bring home the CCAC Tournament crown and secure their spot at the NAIA National Tournament. Their lower bracket run will begin with a date against the fifth-seeded St. Francis Fighting Saints on May 10 at 1 p.m.