[Baseball] Bee bats quiet in losses at St. Francis

St. Ambrose managed just eight hits in losing a doubleheader to St. Francis (Ill.) by scores of 5-2 and 8-1 Wednesday afternoon in Joliet, Ill.

The Bees' lone hit in the opener was a two-run home run off the bat of Andrew Rodriguez, his second in as many days. His shot to right center scored Mike Coughlin, who drew a two-out walk, to give SAU a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning.

That lead lasted until the bottom of the frame.

The first four Saints reached safely in the third and in total, St. Francis collected five hits to push across four runs for a 4-2 lead.

SAU put just two runners on base over the final four innings. Rodriguez walked with one out in the sixth and Jack Cunningham was safe on an error an out later. But a foul out ended the inning and the Bees' final threat.

Colton Carr was charged with the loss after working the first three innings. Ryan Andrews allowed just one hit over three scoreless frame in relief.

Coughlin (3) and Josh Hlubek (2) combined for five of SAU's seven hits in the second game.

Trailing just 1-0 into the third, back-to-back Bee errors with one out allowed USF to score five unearned runs to open up a 6-0 lead. Coughlin had an RBI single in the fifth to get St. Ambrose on the board but St. Francis answered with two insurance runs in the bottom of the inning on the way to the sweep.

Noah Kesselmayer took the loss despite allowing just one earned run over 3 2/3 innings.

The Bees, now 4-14 overall and 2-4 in the CCAC, will face Roosevelt in a three-game series beginning with a Saturday doubleheader at Modern Woodmen Park.