St. Ambrose 10 Quincy 9

The 2003 home opener for the St. Ambrose Fighting Bees was just about as exciting as they come. The contest, which was played on a beautiful day at John O'Donnell stadium, had good pitching, six lead changes, some superb defensive plays, clutch hitting and an ending that was not for the faint of heart. 

After spotting Quincy a 2-0 lead in the top of the third, the Bees scratched out a run in the bottom half and two runs in each of the next two innings to take a 5-2 lead into the fifth. However, Quincy found their bats and chased an effective Brandon Lensmeyer from the mound. The visitors then tacked on three runs against Dan Furlong and two more against Dan Nichols, bringing freshman Joe Arnold into the game. The righty made his first collegiate appearance in what looked to be a hold situation. However, behind some cluth hitting by Jake Miller (1 hit) and Justin Siefken (3 hits), the Bees clawed back to within three runs entering the final frame. 

The offense wasted no time in the bottom of the ninth. Trailing 9-6, Bob Spadoni (2 hits) singled to lead things off. Jake Miller followed with another single and Justin Siefken doubled to close the gap to 9-7. Chad Jones, who also homered earlier in the game, came to the plate with first base open. Quincy decided not to walk the tying run onto base and pitched to the senior. Jones then lifted a mammoth shot to right for the walk-off three-run homer. The bomb was his sixth of the year and brought home his fifth RBI of the day. 

Thanks to the offensive heroics, Joe Arnold picked up his first win and the Bees moved to 7-7 on the year. St. Ambrose will open conference play March 29 at Viterbo.

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