Joliet, Ill. – Behind a career-high 11 strikeout performance by sophomore pitcher Nico Saldias (Ajax, Ontario/Connors State/Pickering), the No. 3 seeded Saint Xavier University baseball team (31-25/17-10 CCAC) won the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Tournament Championship by a score of 7-1 over Indiana University South Bend Tuesday evening at Duly Health and Care Field in Joliet, Ill. The Cougars scored five runs in the top of the 1^st to give Saldias (5-4) a cushion as he struck out the first four batters he faced and didn't allow a hit until a leadoff bunt to start the bottom of the 3^rd.  His final line was 8.0 innings, three hits, one run, two walks. He now has 102 strikeouts and became just the sixth pitcher in program history to record 100 or more strikeouts in a season and the first since 2023 SXU Hall-of-Fame inductee Ryan Quigley (2004-07) had 113 K's in 2005. It's the second CCAC Tournament Championship for Saint Xavier, having first won it in 2016, and it gives the Cougars an automatic berth into the NAIA Opening Round.

• Sophomore outfielder Kevin Dowling (Chicago, Ill./Murray State/Mount Carmel) was 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
• Senior infielder Declan Smyth (Evergreen Park, Ill./North Central/Evergreen Park) doubled with two RBI and two runs in five at-bats.
• Senior designated hitter Sam Ryan (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Conant) finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and a walk.
• Senior infielder Darren Zarrillo (Grapevine, Texas/Frank Phillips/Grapevine) went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored.
• Freshman pitcher Heath Mann (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy Orange) recorded the final three outs and gave up a hit.
• With the bases loaded in the top of the 1^st, Smyth reached base on an error to drive in a run. Zarrillo followed with an RBI infield single and Ryan laced a two-run base hit to left field. Junior infielder Trevor Hausherr (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) made it 5-0 with an RBI single.
• Smyth split the gap in right center for an RBI double in the top of the 2^nd and Zarrillo drove him in with an RBI single down the right field line.
• Saldias would register at least one strikeout in each inning, except the bottom of the 7^th when he rolled three groundouts.
• A leadoff walk would end Saldias' night and Mann, making his third relief appearance in the last three games, issued a pair of groundouts before a two-out RBI single. He would induce a foul out caught by Zarrillo to notch the victory.

Saint Xavier (31-25/17-10 CCAC) will find out its seeding and where they are traveling when the NAIA announces the Opening Round pairings on Thursday, May 11 at 4:00 pm.