CHICAGO, Ill. – The Olivet Nazarene University baseball team had their NAIA-leading 24-game winning streak snapped after a 6-5 walk-off loss to the Cougars of Saint Xavier Friday evening. Kai Hudson's home run and Donovan Yelle's RBI single in the top of the 9^th inning knotted the game at 5-5 before SXU manufactured the game-winner on their last out of regulation.

 
The Cougars built an early lead right off the bat scoring two runs in the first inning of play. After the early going, Nolan Belschner settled down and pitched five scoreless innings. He went for six and a third, struck out four batters.

Ryan Russmann halved the deficit in the third inning with an RBI single to bring Yelle in and score. Garret Mooney tied the ballgame up in the top of the seventh inning as a well-placed sacrifice bunt allowed Gunnar Pullins to score from third. SXU quickly responded and put up three runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-2 lead late.

The Tigers did not go down easy as the late-game rally began with Jacob Bulthuis knocking a ball into play that drove in Robert Jackman in the eighth. Hudson and Yelle completed the comeback but ultimately fell via a game-winner in the final out.

GAME VITALS

Saint Xavier (39-10-1, 22-5-1 CCAC) | Olivet Nazarene (32-15, 25-3 CCAC)

WHAT'S NEXT

The Tigers will conclude the regular season and the three-game series with the Cougars tomorrow. The doubleheader will include games starting at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. CST. Please visit ONUtigers.com to follow along.

--ONU—

*Contact: Patrick Kaindl, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, pkaindl@olivet.edu