SAU drops opener to Nelson in Bellevue Bracket
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
St. Ambrose (IA) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1 |
|
Nelson (Texas) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | X | 8 | 9 | 2 |
It was a game of missed opportunities for the Bees as St. Ambrose dropped its first game in the Bellevue Bracket of the NAIA Opening Round to Nelson (Texas) 8-1 Monday afternoon.
SAU stranded six runners over the first four innings, which included leaving two on in each of the first two frames.
Back-to-back two-out hits from Filip Milatovic and Michael Stupavsky in the first inning were wasted. And an inning later, Matthew McBrien reached on an error and moved to third on Michael Rago's sacrifice bunt to put runners on the corners with one out. Mason Heitzler dropped down a sacrifice bunt that moved Rago to second but left McBrien at third. Jake Pauley popped up to end the inning.
After pinch runner Danny Mouw was stranded after Milatovic drew a one-out walk in the third, Nelson got on the board in the bottom half of the frame.
The Lions got four of their nine hits in the third, including a big two-out two-run double that broke the scoreless tie.
The Bees got on the board in the sixth. Stupavsky doubled down the left-field line and came around to score on Bryce Vorwald's single.
But after leaving another runner in scoring position with only one out in the seventh, SAU watched Nelson break things open. The Lions scored twice in the bottom of the seventh and added four more runs in the eighth.
St. Ambrose (32-21) matched Nelson with nien hits. Stupavsky finished 3-for-4 to lead the way. Eric Gonzalez added two hits.
Dominic Guzman was charged with the loss. He struck out seven over seven innings. Jack Kerpan and Nathaniel Johnson pitched in relief.
SAU will play Huntington in an elimination-game Tuesday at 11 a.m.