National-Tournament run ends with loss to No. 2 Bellevue
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#2 Bellevue (NE) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 0 |
|
St. Ambrose (IA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
St. Ambrose saw its run in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round come to an end at the hand of No. 2 Bellevue Tuesday night in Nebraska.
The Bees lost 11-1 in eight innings to the host school and top seed of the Bellevue Bracket.
Bellevue (49-5) scored in seven of the eight innings but didn't pull away until late.
St. Ambrose (33-22) got on the board in the third. Eric Gonzalez started the inning with a double and came in to score on Quinn Flanagan's two-out single to right to cut the deficit to 3-1.
The margin was just 4-1 entering the bottom of the fifth when the Bees, playing as the home team, threatened.
Gonzalez again reached to start an inning, this time by drawing a walk. Michael Rago bounced a single through the infield before Jake Pauley sacrificed both runners into scoring position. However, St. Ambrose came up empty with a pair of strikeouts ending the threat.
Down 5-1 in the sixth, the Bees again looked poised to draw closer as Michael Stupavsky led off with a single and Bryce Vorwald followed with a four-pitch walk. A double-play ball erased one runner, and after Mason Heitzler was hit by a pitch to put two on, another strikeout closed out the frame.
The Bruins tacked on two runs in the seventh before pushing across four runs in the eighth.
Aidan Pieniazek took the loss after going five innings. Brandon Cusack worked 2 1/3 innings before Noah Chase recorded the final two outs.
Flanagan registered two of the Bees' six hits. Gonzalez, Stupavsky, Rago and Filip Milatovic had the others.