St. Ambrose 8 Upper Iowa 5

Upper Iowa and St. Ambrose are separated by only 2 hours of Iowa interstate, yet the two teams traveled some 1400 miles to play each other on Sunday. And in a game that was sometimes as ugly as the day was hot, The Fighting Bees still found a way to overcome five errors to scratch out a 8-5 victory in their season opener.

Sean Johnson started the game for St. Ambrose and was staked to an early 2-0 lead. However, the lead was short-lived as Upper Iowa combined some timely hitting with some untimely Bees errors to rally for a 4-2 advantage. The Bees countered by getting the first two batters on base in the seventh to bring freshman Jake Miller to the plate.  The designated hitter laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt that turned into a three-bagger when Upper Iowa's Dave Droste's throw sailed down the right field line. Chris Seibel and Matt Gluplznyski both followed with RBI singles to give the Bees their 8-5 lead.

Brandon Lensmeyer pitched four sterling innings of one-hit ball to pick up his first victory of the season and of his collegiate career. The freshman struck out six of the fourteen batters he faced. 

St. Ambrose 7 College of New Jersey 12

After winning the season opener against Upper Iowa, St. Ambrose thought they would be in for a tough game against NCAA Div. III College of New Jersey. The Lions proved those premonitions to be correct in handing the Bees their first loss off the season.

At the outset, things looked good for St. Ambrose. Dave Dexter was dominating the Lion’s lineup from the mound and the Bees bats were zeroing in on New Jersey starter Matt Szustowicz. After a couple of near misses, the Bees finally broke into the scoring column in the fourth inning. They followed the run in the fourth with a pair in the fifth to stake Dexter to a 3-0 lead. The lead however, was short-lived as the momentum started to swing towards New Jersey.

The Lions turned three hits and a couple of Bees errors into a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the fifth and took the lead for good in the sixth by collecting seven hits and six runs. Despite a late run by St. Ambrose, New Jersey held on for the 12-7 win.

In the loss, Logan Springer has three hits and Bob Spadoni added two.

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