CCAC

[Baseball] SAU tops Judson to remain unbeaten in CCAC tournament

The St. Ambrose Fighting Bees remained unbeaten in the CCAC tournament after toppling Judson 5-2 in the second round Saturday afternoon.The Bees methodically took down the sixth-seeded Eagles, getting runners on early and getting them in quickly.In the game's opening frame, Shawn Rigsby gave the Bees an early lead by drawing a walk and then quickly stealing second to get in scoring position. Bryce Vincent took care of the rest with an RBI single up the middle to get St. Ambrose up 1-0.Judson would retaliate in their half of the first, but the Bees were relentless with their approach. Mike Snow plated Kyel Alexander on an RBI groundout to retake the lead in the second and Vincent added another run with his second RBI of the day in the third that scored Cooper Huckabone.The Eagles would keep it close with an RBI single in the fourth that cut the lead to one. Rigsby fired back with an RBI double in the following frame before Snow plated his second run of the day on a bunt single in the sixth to extend the St. Ambrose lead to three.The St. Ambrose pitching staff held it down in the final innings. The Bees turned the ball over to James Cormier in the midst of a sixth-inning Judson rally. After surrendering a walk that loaded the bases, Cormier induced a groundout to firstbase to get the Bees out of the jam.Cormier would cruise to the ninth inning before handing the ball off to Parker Ruth to finish it off. Ruth got the two outs needed to collect the save and nail down the 5-2 win for the Bees.Michael Dudek was credited with the win, going 5 2/3 innings as the starter. Dudek limited the Eagles to two runs on five hits while tossing two strikeouts.Vincent and Snow led the Bees with two RBIs apiece. Alexander recorded a game-high four steals, having now swiped nine bags in two tournament games.The win keeps the Bees in the top bracket, who will now face the one-seeded Olivet Nazarene Tigers Sunday evening. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m.