The Aurora University baseball team opened day one of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament with a tough late inning loss in game one to Benedictine University 10-7 before surviving to advance with a 6-4 11 inning win over Concordia University Wisconsin. AU advances to Saturday to take on a third bird in a row, the Hawks of Illinois Tech.


Game One Score: Benedictine University 10, #19 Aurora University 7
Game Two Score: #19 Aurora University 6, Concordia University Wisconsin 4 - 11 innings
Record: Aurora University 31-10 overall 
Location: Lisle, Illinois - Benedictine University


Game One:
- Spartan starting pitcher Jack Fisher struck out the first three batters he faced but one reached and later scored on a wild pitch.
- AU was the home team in the contest and answered in the bottom of the inning with singles from Joe Lukancic and Derek Angelo. The pair would score on a Logan Riley double.
- The Spartans added on in the second with a lead-off single from Dominick Curcio and he later scored on a sac fly from Nico Bermeo for a 3-1 AU lead.
- Two BU doubles and an error allowed the Eagles to tie the game 3-3 in the fourth.
- The Spartans again answered immediately with a walk to Curcio with one out being followed by a Nick Czarnecki home run and a 5-3 AU lead.
- AU continued to score in the frame with a two-out double from Bermeo being followed by a Lukancic double which scored Bermeo and Lukancic scored on a Nik Panico single.
- The Spartans led 7-3 until the seventh when BU scored three times to cut the lead to one at 7-6.
- AU turned to the bullpen in the seventh and on with Adrian Ruiz coming in relief in the eighth and working out of a jam.
- The Spartans had a chance to add on in the eighth but left a pair stranded.
- Leading 7-6 going to the ninth, AU would see the lead disappear following a grand slam.
- The Spartans would fall in tough fashion 10-7.

Game Two:
- AU looked to rebound in game two against CUW and loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first but came up empty.
- CUW grabbed a 1-0 lead with a lead-off home run.
- In the third the Spartans loaded the bases again with no outs. This time Logan Riley drove in Bermeo with a sac fly to tie the game.
- Shortly after, Derek Angelo stole second and the throw down went wild and allowed Lukancic to score from third for a 2-1 AU lead.
- A one out walk for CUW in the bottom of the third eventually came around to score to tie the game 2-2.
- A two out single from Tyler Patton in the sixth would see Patton eventually score on a dropped fly ball and gave AU the 3-2 lead.
- In the bottom half of the inning, CUW loaded the bases with one out and AU called on Owen Piazza from the pen.
- Piazza got out of the bases loaded threat to keep the lead.
- Lukancic hit a solo home run in the seventh to push the Spartan lead up to two at 4-2.
- AU maintained the 4-2 lead into the ninth when CUW would score two on a double to tie the game. Piazza struck out two to get out of the inning and keep AU's winning hopes alive.
- The 10th went by uneventfully before the crazy 11th.
- In the 11th, Sean Rivera led off with a walk and he scored two batters later on a single by Bermeo. Bermeo went all the way to third on the play thanks to throwing miscues.
- Lukancic drove in Bermeo with a sac fly and AU led 6-4.
- In the bottom of the 11th Piazza collected two quick outs before a single and walk brought the possible winning run to the plate.
- After falling behind 3-0, Piazza worked the count to full on the Falcon clean up hitter.
- On the seventh pitch of the at-bat, the CUW slugger crushed a ball deep down the right field line but it was foul. The next pitch was again ripped down the right field line but this time on the ground and again foul.
- Piazza would win the battle with a strike out for his fourth win of the season as AU survived and advanced in the NACC Tournament with the 6-4 win.


Game One:
HITTING
HITS:  Joe Lukancic (4)
DOUBLE: Joe Lukancic, Nico Bermeo and Logan Riley (1)
HOME RUN: Nick Czarnecki (1)
RUNS: Joe Lukancic and Dominick Curcio (2)
RUNS BATTED IN: Nick Czarnecki and Logan Riley (2)

PITCHING:
APPEARANCES (innings): Jack Fisher (6.2), Joey Pettit (0.1), Sam Harvey (0.1) and Adrian Ruiz (1.2)
DECISIONS: Adrian Ruiz (loss 4-2)
STRIKEOUTS: Jack Fisher (4)

Game Two:
HITTING
HITS: Joe Lukancic and Nico Bermeo (3)
HOME RUN: Joe Lukancic (1)
RUNS: Joe Lukancic and Nico Bermeo (2)
RUNS BATTED IN: Joe Lukancic (2)

PITCHING:
APPEARANCES (innings): Justin Zimmerman (5.1) and Owen Piazza (5.2)
DECISIONS: Owen Piazza (win, 4-0)
STRIKEOUTS: Owen Piazza (7) and Justin Zimmerman (6)