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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Jared Orwell
Jared Orwell tips his batting helmet to the dugout after one of his three doubles during the series.
9
Winner Aurora AURORA 41-4
6
John Carroll JCU 28-16
Winner
Aurora AURORA
41-4
9
Final
6
John Carroll JCU
28-16
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Aurora AURORA 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 0 1 9 8 0
John Carroll JCU 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 1 1 6 10 0

W: J. Zimmerman (10-1) L: Higley, Jamon (1-2) S: C. Garcia (6)

3
John Carroll JCU 28-17
4
Winner Aurora AURORA 42-4
John Carroll JCU
28-17
3
Final
4
Aurora AURORA
42-4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
John Carroll JCU 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 11 2
Aurora AURORA 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 4 9 0

W: C. Cazares (4-1) L: Olsavsky, Joe (1-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Jake Vulinec, Staff Writer

Baseball's Historic Season Ends in Heartbreaking Fashion Against Aurora

AURORA, Ill. – After losing the first game on Friday of their NCAA Tournament best-of-five series with Aurora, the John Carroll baseball team needed at least one win to stay alive and force games to be played on Sunday to attempt to advance to the program's first NCAA Super Regional. Unfortunately, the Blue Streaks dropped both contests against the Spartans 9-6 and 4-3, respectfully, to end their memorable season. 

Game One

Jamon Higley started on the hill for the Blue Streaks and dominated through his first four innings. The left hander didn't allow a hit until the fifth. Jett Wedekind led things off in the fifth by breaking up the no-no with a single. A bunt single and walk loaded the bases for Aurora with no outs. Tyler Patton was able to hit a flare to right field to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Higley would then walk Collin Meinert with the bases loaded to push in another run. This spelled the end of the day for Higley, as Austin Miller was called on in relief. 

The right hander came in a tough spot, with the bases still loaded and nobody retired. The beginning of his outing spelled major danger for the Blue Streaks. Miller walked in two more runs before really settling in. Then, the Aurora, Illinois native forced a flyout and inning-ending double play, but the Spartans jumped ahead to a 4-0 lead. 

The Blue Streaks were able to fight and claw their way back into the game come the bottom of the sixth inning. Three straight singles from Sean Connolly, Justin Hanley, and Jack Harmon loaded the bases to start the inning. A balk would plate Connolly before anybody had to swing a bat. Eventually, Logan LaMere would punch a ball to center field and it was deep enough to score Hanley on the sacrifice fly. Before the inning concluded, Erik Daugenti was able to lift a sacrifice fly of his own to score Harmon and bring the Blue Streaks within one. 

It took just a half inning for Aurora to respond. In the seventh they were able to score a pair of runs on the backs of walks. Wedekind would ensure the team didn't stop there when he was able to plate two more with an RBI double down the left field line. The Spartans led, 8-3.

John Carroll made sure to keep things tight down the stretch adding a run in each of the seventh and eighth innings. Joe Olsavsky lifted a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Jared Orwell, who came in as a pinch hitter, laced an RBI double in the eighth to trim the Spartan advantage to just three. 

After Wedekind was able to tally another RBI in the top of the ninth on the sacrifice fly, JCU had four runs to make up for in the ninth. The task felt unreachable to the untrained eye. Back-to-back outs from the top of the order looked to write an end to game two, but John Carroll didn't stop fighting. Hanley and LaMere would single with a Harmon walk in between. Daugenti was plunked by a pitch to score a run, and bring the game winning run to the plate. Connor Mayle was unable to keep the magic rolling, as he popped up on the infield to end the game and hand the Blue Streaks a 9-6 loss.

In the loss, the graduate student Hanley was able to record three hits. Orwell also made the most of his two at-bats, hitting a pair of doubles. 

Game Two

John Carroll now had their backs against a wall, needing a reverse sweep in the series in order to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals. 

They started the scoring early in game three. Olsavsky and Hanley would both reach base and be moved into scoring position on a Conolly sacrifice bunt. Harmon would hit a cue shot towards second, but it was slow enough to give JCU a 1-0 lead.

Aurora again wasted little time to answer. Sean Rivera was walked with one out in the fourth inning and was able to steal second. In the next at-bat, Olsavsky made a diving stop behind the second base bag, but became overaggressive trying to throw out the hitter, Nico Bermeo. The shortstop overthrew his first baseman and it allowed the tying run to score. Maxwell Schumaker finished his day on that note, but the Streaks turned to Garrett Siegel. Jacob Ambuel singled up the middle to drive home Bermeo and put the Spartans on top, 2-1. Siegel worked out of the inning after the hit.

The score remained there until the top of the eighth inning. LaMere and Daugenti would string together a pair of hits, the latter being a double, to both find themselves in scoring position. Mayle was able to lift a sacrifice fly to bring the Blue Streaks right back into the game and tie it at two. It took just one more hitter to break the tie as Orwell pumped another double to center field and gave John Carroll a 3-2 lead. 

Henry Darrow was on the mound for the second time in as many days and pitching well. However, he'd hit the lead-off batter and end his day. Olsavsky was asked to come on and record three outs, inheriting the runner on first. Justin Sartori promptly doubled and put the winning run in scoring position. Wedekind was given an intentional free pass to load the bases. The entire JCU infield pinched in and cut down runners at the plate on back-to-back plays. Just one out away from the save, Olsavsky faced a pinch hitter in Brendan Naylor. The sophomore smacked it over a diving attempt from Connolly to walk it off for the Spartans.

The Blue Streaks were swept in the best-of-five, losing three tightly contested games. The first game was a 3-2 loss just the day prior. John Carroll has still yet to earn a win in the NCAA Tournament, coming away winless in their other two appearances in 1984 and 2014.

JCU ends their 2023 campaign as one of the best in school history, with a program-record 28 wins and won just their second OAC Tournament title ever. They did it as the lowest seed, becoming only the third squad to ever accomplish this feat in the conference since they adopted their current postseason format in 1985. The Blue Streaks also set multiple single-season tem records, including most runs (331) and hits (460) while also tying the mark set last year for home runs (40).
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