Joliet, Ill. – No. 3 seed Saint Xavier University baseball (28-25/17-10 CCAC) kept its postseason alive by winning a pair of elimination games in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Tournament Saturday afternoon at Duly Health and Care Field in Joliet, Ill. SXU defeated No. 4 Trinity Christian College (Ill.) by a score of 9-6 and followed that with a 7-2 victory over No. 2 St. Ambrose University (Iowa). The Cougars advance to the elimination bracket finals and will play either No. 5 Indiana University South Bend or No. 7 Roosevelt University (Ill.) at 10:00 am on Monday, May 8, with the winner playing later that afternoon in the CCAC Tournament Championship.
Game One:

• Sophomore outfielder Kevin Dowling (Chicago, Ill./Murray State/Mount Carmel) was a home run shy of the cycle; tripling, doubling and singling in his first three at-bats. He went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored.
• Senior infielder Darren Zarrillo (Grapevine, Texas/Frank Phillips/Grapevine) was 2-for-4 with two RBI, a run and a stolen base
• Junior outfielder Daniel Barrios (Manteno, Ill./Manteno) drove in two runs and finished 1-for-4 with a run scored.
• Senior infielder Patrick Hayes (Chicago, Ill./Moraine Valley/Parkland/Brother Rice) was 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
• Junior pitcher Julian Vargas (Tinley Park, Ill./Tinley Park) earned the win (4-6) after 6.0 innings with 10 hits surrendered, six runs, three walks and two strikeouts.
• Junior pitcher Ryan Martin (Whitestone, N.Y./Iona/St. Francis Prep) pitched an inning with three hits allowed.
• Junior pitcher Tzu-Chun Yen (Kaohsiung, Taiwan/Ohlone/Meiho) recorded his second save of the season after 2.0 innings of relief.
• Saint Xavier jumped out to the lead quickly, tacking on six runs in the bottom of the 1^st. Dowling sliced a leadoff triple and scored on an RBI single by Hayes. Zarrillo hit an RBI single, senior designated hitter Sam Ryan (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Conant) lifted a sacrifice fly, Barrios legged out an RBI infield single and Dowling bookended the inning with a two-run double.
• The Trolls chipped away, getting an RBI single in the top of the 2^nd and two more RBI base hits in the top of the 3^rd to cut the deficit in half at 6-3.
• Senior infielder Declan Smyth (Evergreen Park, Ill./North Central/Evergreen Park) hit a sac fly, Zarrillo hit an RBI single, and Barrios added an RBI groundout in the bottom of the 4^th to push the lead to 9-3.
• TCC rallied for three runs, all with no outs, in the top of the 7^th to chase Vargas on three RBI singles. The momentum shifted back towards SXU when a fly out to senior centerfielder Collin Woulfe (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township) made a catch and threw out the runner tagging from third base at home to turn a double play and Martin would induce a pop out to end the inning.
• Yen posted back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the 8^th and 9^th to secure the win.

Game Two:

• Dowling went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a walk.
• Junior catcher Evan Orzech (Shorewood, Ill./Crossroads Christian Academy) was 1-for-3 with two walks and an RBI.
• Junior pitcher Caleb Ziehr (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Lutheran) made the start and pitched 4.2 innings, giving up just two hits, one run (unearned), two walks and striking out three batters.
• Sophomore pitcher Noah Scott (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton) registered his team-leading sixth win of the season (6-1) with 3.1 innings out of the bullpen. He allowed just one hit with four strikeouts.
• Junior pitcher Jimmy Fairley (Lake in the Hills, Ill./Rock Valley/Huntley) worked the top of the 9^th with two hits, one run and a walk.
• The Cougars struck first with three runs in the bottom of the 1^st. Orzech pulled an RBI single through the right side of the infield, Zarrillo hit an RBI single, and a run would score on a passed ball.
• Ryan smacked an RBI base hit to extend the lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the 3^rd.
• Smyth made in 5-0 in the bottom of the 4^th with an RBI single.
• The Fighting Bees got in the board in the top of the 5^th on an RBI fielder's choice.
• Woulfe scored on a fielder's choice, racing home from second base, in the bottom of the 6^th.
• Barrios laces an RBI single to center field to make it 7-1 in the bottom of the 7^th.
• St. Ambrose scored on a fielder's choice in the top of the 9^th with one out. After a walk, Fairley rolled a groundball to Hayes to flipped to Smyth covering second to end the game.

Saint Xavier (28-25/17-10 CCAC) plays either IUSB or RU at 10:00 am on Monday, May 8 at Duly Health and Care Field in Joliet, Ill. The winner advances to play at 1:00 pm later that afternoon in the CCAC Tournament Championship.