Saint Xavier Goes 4-0 To Claim Baseball Tournament Title

JOLIET, Ill. ---- No. 3 seed Saint Xavier University picked the perfect time to record the first shutout of the 2025 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament, doing so in Saturday's title game with its 6-0 victory over top-seeded Judson University at Slammers Stadium.

The championship is the second in three years for the Cougars (31-22) and the fourth for the program overall.

Jimmy Fairley, Logan McCleery and Garrett Benko combined on the five-hit shutout, registering ten strikeouts between the three pitchers.  Fairley (10-1) gained the start and the victory with his 5 1/3 innings of work.  McCleery followed with the next 2 2/3 innings before Benko struck out the side in the ninth inning.

Sean Moore and Taylor Stieg both provided a pair of hits for SXU, with Shea Zbrozek, Justin Massingale and Aaron Orzech all driving in one run.

Saint Xavier used the speed of Travis Hammond to post the first run of the contest.  After reaching base on a single, he stole a pair of bases before scoring on Zbrozek's groundout in the third inning.

The score remained 1-0 until the sixth inning when the Cougars collected their first of two unearned runs in the game.  They added three more runs in the seventh inning and one in the eighth to pull away.

Judson's scoring opportunities were limited on the day with only three runners getting into scoring position, two of which came after two outs.  Fairley faced the minimum 15 batters through the first five innings, aided by a double play and two runners caught stealing.

Daley Thompson (2-for-3) and Austin Stone (2-for-2) provided all but one of the Eagles' five hits.

Saint Xavier now moves on to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round May 12-15 at a site to be announced on Wednesday (May 7).

Judson concludes its season at 30-23.  

The tournament results follow:

Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Game #1: No. 5 seed Olivet Nazarene 8, No. 4 seed Viterbo 3
Game #2: No. 3 seed Saint Xavier 9, No. 6 seed Indiana South Bend 1

Thursday, May 1, 2025
Game #3: No. 1 seed Judson 7, No. 5 seed Olivet Nazarene 5
Game #4: No. 3 seed Saint Xavier 12, No. 2 seed St. Ambrose 1
Game #5: No. 5 seed Olivet Nazarene 4, No. 6 seed Indiana South Bend 3
Game #6: No. 2 seed St. Ambrose 8, No. 4 seed Viterbo 2

Friday, May 2, 2025
Game #7: No. 3 seed Saint Xavier 7, No. 1 seed Judson 6 --- 12 Innings
Game #8: No. 5 seed Olivet Nazarene 11, No. 2 seed St. Ambrose 4
Game #9: No. 1 seed Judson 8, No. 5 seed Olivet Nazarene 4

Saturday, May 3, 2025
Game #10: No. 3 seed Saint Xavier 6, No. 1 seed Judson 0 (Championship)