Lakers Win CCAC Tournament Opener Over Fighting Bees

JOLIET, Ill. – Roosevelt overcame an early deficit to win its opener in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament for the first time in program history with a 12-5 win over St. Ambrose on Thursday at Duly Health and Care Field in Joliet.

The seventh-seeded Lakers (25-17) fell behind 4-0 after three innings, but tallied three runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to put themselves past the second-seeded Fighting Bees for good. Noah Mathias settled down after allowing three runs in the first inning and allowed just five runs on five hits while striking out three for the victory. Omar Abuelhija came on to pitch the final 10 outs and allowed just one hit to earn his first save of the season.

Mathias struggled with his control during the outing plunking five batters and walking two other hitters. He hit the first batter he faced in the game then unleashed a wild pitch to allow the runner to advance. The righty allowed a pair of extra-base hits in the first to exit the inning with the three-run deficit. A leadoff triple came around to score in the third inning when Mathias uncorked another wild pitch and another hit batsman came around to score in the fifth.

Diego Munoz woke up the Lakers' offense with a solo homer to start the fourth inning, which was Roosevelt's second hit of the game. Sean Blanchard and Sherman Martin followed with walks then both advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch from the St. Ambrose pitcher. Jaylen Heard's deep fly to center field was enough for Blanchard to score then Jack Toenjes drove in Martin with a bloop single into right field.  Mathias threw his only 1-2-3 inning of the game in the bottom half of the frame to keep the momentum going.

Daniel Gutierrez lined a single up the middle to lead off the fifth then Blanchard reached on a walk to put runners on first and second. An awkward grounder from Martin forced an errant throw from the Fighting Bees' pitcher, allowing pinch runner Danny Holloway to score on the play. Jojo Mack then delivered the lead for the Lakers with a two-out single with the bases loaded that scored two more runs.

Roosevelt was not done adding to the lead in the sixth inning as Hunter Darst hit a sacrifice fly on a foul ball to the first baseman, who fell down after catching it. Munoz then scored when ball four to Heard snuck past the catcher to put the Lakers up 9-5. In the seventh inning, Munoz hit a sacrifice fly on a line drive into left field that allowed Bryce Hayman to tag up and score. The Lakers then added two more in the ninth courtesy of a Munoz double and Blanchard single.

Munoz finished the game 2 for 4 with a walk and three runs scored in addition to driving in three runs. Blanchard was 2 for 4 with a pair of walks and two runs scored while Mack was 2 for 3 with his two RBIs to continue his strong stretch at the plate.

The Lakers will battle third-seeded St. Xavier on Friday at 10 a.m. back at Duly Health and Care Field in Joliet in a winner's bracket game.