JOLIET, Ill. – The Olivet Nazarene baseball team enters the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Tournament as the number one overall seed, regular season champions, and the reigning champions from 2021. ONU will begin their postseason journey matched up with the eighth-seeded Titans of IU-South Bend Thursday night, May 5, with the first pitch slated for 7 p.m. CST. All games for the CCAC Tournament are hosted at Duly Health and Care Field in Joliet, Ill.
2022 CCAC Baseball Tournament Bracket
#FORTHESTREAK
The Tigers lived up to their program hashtag, #ForTheStreak, as they built an NAIA-leading 24-game win streak that began March 20 with a 6-1 win at St. Francis and lasted till April 29 falling to Saint Xavier 6-5. In that run, the Tigers' offense averaged 10.9 runs per game and only allowed opponents to score an average of 2.79. As a team, they combined for a .378 batting average and a combined 2.33 ERA.
BATTLE TESTED
All but one of Olivet's non-conference opponents are ranked or receiving votes in the latest NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll released on April 20. The Tigers started the season 7-12 without a single non-conference game played at Watson Field. ONU won both of the season series over the other two top-three teams in the conference sweeping St. Ambrose in three games and taking two of three games over St. Xavier. The Purple and Gold's only series loss in the conference came at the hands of St. Francis falling two games to one.
CCAC AWARDS
Nolan Belschner was awarded as the first CCAC Pitcher of The Week this season after tossing a complete game shutout against Concordia (Mich.) back on March 5. Ethan Underwood followed up the next week to be named with the same award. The Woodstock, Ga. Native had a complete game shutout of his own to defeat Georgetown (Ky.). Later in the year, Jacob Bulthuis was the first in the ONU program to be named Player of the Week coming off performances that saw the senior outfielder go back-to-back three-hit games. He went nine for 16 in four consecutive wins over Judson and Trinity Christian. Underwood claimed his second Pitcher of the Week award on April 12 while Aren Gustafson was tabbed Pitcher of the Week for his shutout performance against St. Ambrose that clinched the CCAC regular-season title.
LEADING THE WAY
Olivet's pitching staff leads the conference in just about every individual stat column. Ethan Underwood tops the leaderboard with the lowest ERA (1.88) and the most wins (9). Aren Gustafson has a conference-best 76 strikeouts while sitting in third with an ERA of 2.92. Jonathan Simpson's five saves on the season leads the CCAC. Tyler Wheeler is in a four-way tie with the most home runs in the league with 11. As a team, ONU has scored the second most runs (359) behind Saint Xavier and they have the lowest combined ERA of 3.92.
BACK-TO-BACK
Olivet Nazarene is on a mission to repeat as CCAC Tournament champions. The Purple and Gold finished last year as the regular-season champions with an overall record of 36-20 and a record of 23-6 in the conference. ONU faced an elimination game against St. Francis where they came out on top 7-1 propelling them to consecutive wins in the championship series over Saint Xavier to reach the NAIA Baseball World Series Opening Rounds. With their 2022 CCAC regular-season championship, ONU has already secured its position in the Opening Rounds for this year.
ONU STAT LEADERS
Batting Average: Robert Jackman (.370)
Doubles: Robert Jackman (13)
Triples: Jacob Bulthuis (6)
Home Runs: Tyler Wheeler (11)
OBP: Tyler Wheeler (.487)
SLG: Tyler Wheeler (.639)
ERA: Ethan Underwood (1.88)
Strikeouts: Aren Gustafson (76)
Wins: Ethan Underwood (9)
Saves: Jonathan Simpson (5)
--ONU--
*Contact: Patrick Kaindl, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, pkaindl@olivet.edu