| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Judson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
|
Olivet Nazarene | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | X | 3 | 10 | 1 |
JOLIET, Ill. – The Olivet Nazarene University Baseball team capped off their 2022 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference season by pairing their regular season championship with the tournament championship after defeating the Eagles of Judson 2-1 in the title game. Aren Gustafson struck out a season-high 11 batters on the night moving the left-handed hurler into second all-time in program history with 265 for his career. The Tigers have now been crowned CCAC Tournament Champions for the third consecutive season.
Gustafson lit up the strike zone with 73 of his 109 pitches catching a piece of the plate. The Rockton, Ill. native lasted seven innings allowing only two walks and four hits against 26 batters faced. He and Emilio Guitron of JU went stride for stride in a pitcher's duel to keep the contest scoreless for the first five innings.
Baseball: With this strikeout in the top of fourth inning, Aren Gustafson now moves into second all-time with 261 career strikeouts! The Tigers and Eagles are deadlocked in a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the fourth! pic.twitter.com/lwWLT2EuJS
— ONU Tigers (@ONUAthletics) May 10, 2022
Kai Hudson put ONU on the board first with an RBI single through the right side of the infield to score Ryan Russmann in the bottom of the sixth inning. The shortstop went two-for-three on the night including a walk. Hudson now has 37 RBIs on the season while batting .422 in the conference.
The Tigers proceeded to score two important insurance runs in the eighth inning. Tyler Wheeler hammered a one-out three-two pitch to center field for his 12th home run of the year. With the four-base dinger, the senior catcher tallied RBI number 40 this spring. Gunnar Pullins tacked on the third run for the Purple and Gold as his sacrifice bunt allowed Jacob Bulthuis to cross home plate.
Baseball: Tyler Wheeler hits a solo homer to left center and the Tigers lead 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth! pic.twitter.com/MEClkRJC4e
— ONU Tigers (@ONUAthletics) May 10, 2022
Judson made a late attempt to rally in the ninth inning. A lead-off walk to start the inning ultimately turned into the first run of the contest for the Eagles. This then brought up the game-tying run to the plate with two outs and a baserunner on third. Jonathan Simpson completed the save drawing the groundball to the first baseman that ended the ballgame 3-1.
YOUR TIGERS ARE YOUR CCAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS FOR THE THIRD-STRAIGHT SEASON!! pic.twitter.com/SjGVK7Bqnp
— ONU Tigers (@ONUAthletics) May 10, 2022
GAME VITALS
(No. 1) Olivet Nazarene (38-15, 27-3 CCAC) | (No. 6) Judson (17-26, 15-14 CCAC)
2022 CCAC Baseball Tournament Bracket
WHAT'S NEXT
The Tigers advance to the NAIA National Championship Opening Rounds scheduled for May 16-19. ONU will now wait for draw on Thursday at 4 p.m. CST to be paired with an opponent and site. The broadcast for the draw can be streamed live on the NAIA Facebook page. Please follow ONUTigers.com to stay up-to-date.
--ONU—
*Contact: Patrick Kaindl, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, pkaindl@olivet.edu