ONU Makes It Three Baseball Tournament Titles In A Row
JOLIET, Ill. — Top-seeded Olivet Nazarene University made it three Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament titles in a row by winning for the 30th time in the Tigers’ last 31 games with their 3-1 victory over No. 6 seed Judson University on Monday night at Duly Health & Care Field.
The contest was a scoreless tie until Olivet Nazarene (38-15) punched home its first run on a two-out, RBI single from Kai Hudson in the sixth inning. The Tigers added two important insurance runs in the eighth inning on a home run from Tyler Wheeler and a sacrifice bunt by Gunnar Pullins.
Judson (21-28) made things interesting in the ninth inning when it had the tying run at the plate after Dayne Frederick drove home the Eagles’ only run of the contest. Jonathan Simpson, however, was able to get out of the jam to record his sixth save of the season. He and starter Aren Gustafson (7-4) combined for 13 strikeouts against only six hits. Gustafson struck out 11 batters in his seven innings of work.
Judson gained the conference’s second automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round by finishing as the tournament runner-up. The Eagles (21-27) defeated No. 2 St. Ambrose University 15-0 earlier in the day on Monday. Tommy Moran went 4-for-5 with four RBis in that contest with Brandon Callender (5-6) and Michael Betancourt (save) combining on the shutout.
The complete tournament results follow:
Thursday, May 5, 2022
Game 1 –No. 4 seed St. Francis 6, No. 5 seed Roosevelt 0
Game 2 – No. 6 seed Judson 8, No. 3 seed Saint Xavier 1
Friday, May 6, 2022
Game 3 –No. 2 seed St. Ambrose 14, No. 7 seed Calumet St. Joseph 13
Game 4 –No. 1 seed Olivet Nazarene 5, No. 8 seed Indiana S. Bend 4
Saturday, May 7, 2022
Game 5 – No. 3 seed Saint Xavier 13, No. 7 seed Calumet St. Joseph 4
Game 6 –No. 8 seed Indiana S. Bend 9, No. 5 seed Roosevelt 1
Game 7 – No. 2 seed St. Ambrose 5, No. 6 seed Judson 2
Game 8 – No. 1 seed Olivet Nazarene 4, No. 4 seed St. Francis 3 — 10 Innings
Sunday, May 8, 2022
Game 9 –No. 6 seed Judson 7, No. 8 seed Indiana South Bend 5
Game 10 –No. 4 seed St. Francis 7, No. 3 seed Saint Xavier 5
Game 11 – No. 6 seed Judson 4, No. 4 seed St. Francis 3
Game 12 –No. 1 seed Olivet Nazarene 5, No. 2 seed St. Ambrose 2
Monday, May 9, 2022
Game 13 –No. 6 seed Judson 15, No. 2 seed St. Ambrose 0
Game 14 –No. 1 seed Olivet Nazarene 3, No. 6 seed Judson 1 (Championship)