HUNTINGTON, Ind. – The third-seeded Spring Arbor University baseball team punched its ticket to the Crossroads League Tournament championship game after holding off a late rally to defeat second-seeded Huntington University 6-3 on Wednesday.
The Cougars not only advanced to their second straight championship game, but clinched one of the Crossroads League's two automatic bids for the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round. Mount Vernon Nazarene locked up the other bid by winning the conference's regular season title.
Spring Arbor struck first plating a run in the bottom of the first inning. Chris Wegrzyn doubled to lead off the frame and eventually scored on a base hit by JP Maracani. The Cougars took advantage of an HU error to pad their lead in the third. After Mitchel Patterson reached on a misplayed grounder, Jonathan Newman delivered a huge two-out double to drive in Patterson and Wegrzyn.
Huntington (27-15) pushed a run across in the fourth to trim the deficit to two, but SAU answered immediately in the home half of the inning with an RBI single by Francisco Ondina.
The Cougars would tack on runs in the fifth and eighth innings to increase the lead to 6-1, but the Foresters refused to go down quietly. In the ninth, HU loaded the bases with two outs. A single up the middle by Dylan Henricks and a walk issued to Nate Stark closed the gap to three, but Robert Cleary would strike out the next batter to end the threat and send the Cougars to the championship game.
Spring Arbor collected 13 hits in the contest, including three by Wegrzyn. Maracani blasted his team-leading seventh home run of the season and picked up two RBIs. Newman and Ondina also recorded a pair of hits.
Freshman pitcher Sam Memmelaar was sensational through eight-plus innings of work. He limited the Foresters to five hits while striking out five to earn his fifth win of the season.
The Cougars (29-16) will meet top-seeded Mount Vernon Nazarene in the Crossroads League Tournament championship game tonight at 6 p.m. at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.
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