JOLIET, Ill. – The Olivet Nazarene University baseball team split its day-two matchups Thursday afternoon at Slammers Stadium to stay alive in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.

The Tigers battled with the top-seeded Judson Eagles in the winner's bracket but ultimately fell 7-5 before holding on down the stretch for a 4-3 victory over Indiana South Bend in the lower bracket.

Judson scored a run in the bottom of the first and ONU had to play from behind the rest of the way. Alex Seaton got the run back in the bottom of the first with an RBI single to tie the game.

The two teams traded runs from there in a back-and-forth affair, with the Eagles taking the lead and the Tigers rallying back to tie the game. But they could not get over the hump, never holding a lead to drop to the lower bracket.

Taylor Bledsoe lifted a game-tying RBI single in the fourth, and Andy Onnen roped a two-RBI double down the left-field line to tie the game in the seventh. Judson jumped back in front with two runs in their half of the seventh, but the Tigers did not have the answer. 

Jack Dupuis blasted a homer in the eighth to cut the deficit to one. But that was as close as they would get in the defeat, retiring in order in the ninth to suffer the loss.

It was a game of missed opportunities for the Purple & Yellow Gold, stranding nine runners and twice leaving the bases loaded.

ONU quickly shook off the loss, taking a quick lead and never looking back to defeat Indiana South Bend and advance in the lower bracket. Aden Aukland gave the Tigers an early lead with an RBI triple in the top of the first, and Evan Pogioli doubled up the advantage in the third on an RBI single up the middle.

The Titans, who entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed, plated a run in the top half of the fourth to cut the ONU lead to one. But the Tigers quickly responded with a pair of runs on RBIs off the bats of Sam Reczek and Takumi Kimoto to extend the lead to three.

Those two runs proved to be pivotal down the stretch as IUSB scored twice in the ninth to get to within one tally. But Matthew Cosuino shut out the Titans, recording the final eight outs to tack down the victory and pick up the save.

Kimoto led a trio of Tigers with multi-hit games, finishing 3-for-5 at the plate with his RBI. Auckland and Bledsoe tabbed two hits each.

ONU will take on St. Ambrose in the lower bracket tomorrow at 4 p.m.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu