Junior IF/P John Simecek at Ferrell Field SXU Cougars
The final week has begun for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) baseball regular season and with just a few games left, the Saint Xavier University (SXU) Cougars still have much to play for.
In a four game series against Calumet College of St. Joseph (Ind.) the Cougars set themselves up for a strong finish to the season by completing the sweep.
Heading into the series, SXU held a 24-14 record compared to the 4-28 record for the Calumet Crimson Wave.
The series began with a doubleheader on Friday, April 17, in Whiting, IN. In Game One, the Cougars continued doing what they’ve been doing during the season, which has been attacking early; this time it came in the form of a three-run second inning.
After getting the scoring started via a passed ball, Noah Drier launched a solo homer for his sixth of the year to make 2-0 Cougars. Then a RBI single from Beau Polickey solidified the three-run second inning.
The following inning, SXU was able to tack on one more run thanks to a sac fly from Parker Violett.
Despite a strong offensive start for the Cougars, the next few innings would go by quickly as both offenses would be kept quiet.
In the final three innings however, SXU would blow the game wide open as they combined for six runs on eight hits.
As much as the Cougar offense played a big part in the 10-1 victory, the star of the game was starting pitcher Thomas Plizga, who had seven no-hit innings with eight strikeouts, helping him improve his record on the season to 5-2.
Game Two brought more of the same, this time, the Cougars took advantage of a couple of errors from the Crimson Wave to make it 2-0 early in the first inning. Trevor Corbett would make it 3-0 Cougars with an RBI double allowing Max Waszkiewicz to score after reaching on another error from Calumet College.
Starting pitcher, Cole Martz, followed the strong outing from Plizga into Game Two, as he was just one out away from a no hitter. Martz would close out the game on the very next pitch, improving his record to 3-4 and lowering his ERA to 3.19; his ten strikeout performance helped bring his season total to a team leading 65.
On Saturday, April 18, the series shifted to Ferrell Field for the final two games. Another game means another first inning run for SXU: this time in the form of a Corbett sac fly to tie the game up at one.
In the second inning the Cougars would take the lead on John Simecek’s solo home run – his first of what would eventually be a two homer game.
A third inning bases loaded walk, followed by a wild pitch, would make it 4-1 then a sac fly from Simecek would have SXU up by four heading into the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the fourth the floodgates would open as the Cougars plated six more runs which included a John Simecek grand slam to put them up 11-1.
Calumet College of St. Joseph was able to add a run in the top of the seventh to make it a nine run game but in the bottom of the inning Drew Lichtenberg launched a leadoff solo home run to enforce the ten run rule giving the Cougars a 12-2 victory in the seventh inning.
Senior starting pitcher Osvaldo Ballesteros Jr. improved his record to 2-0 after going five innings with three hits and four strikeouts.
Game Four would start off with a three run first inning for SXU, including a two-run homer for Corbett, his first collegiate homer.
The Cougars would make it 5-0 in the third inning after a sac fly from Aaron Orzech and a single from Ben Meier.
A two run double for the Crimson Wave cut the deficit to three but SXU would answer right back with two runs of their own to make it a five run game once again.
A four run sixth inning would ice the game despite the Crimson Wave’s best efforts to to comeback it would be no match for a strong offensive Cougars team.
Tyler Deluca secured his third win of the season after going five innings allowing just two runs on three hits, with six strikeouts and two walks, his record now stands at 3-2.
At 28-14 overall and 19-9 in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC), Saint Xavier University currently sits in third place in the CCAC, just two games back of the first place St.Ambrose Fighting Bees.
The remaining games include two against Indiana University Kokomo at home beginning on Tuesday, April, 21, at 1 p.m. The final four games will be played against Trinity Christian College with the series starting on Friday, April 24.
With six games left, the Cougars have the opportunity to use both their recent offensive and pitching success to make a late push for first place to end the regular season.
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