Elgin, IL - Friday afternoon saw the Eagles welcome in the current conference leader, the St. Ambrose Bees to town. Trying to catch the Bees for a chance at repeating as regular season conference champions, the vibe was loud and rowdy from pitch one, all the way through what would be an epic final pitch. 

In the top of the first, St. Ambrose wasted no time scoring three runs. But JU would answer in the bottom half scoring five. The big blast being a Ryan Pitzer grand slam. 

Emotions grew seemingly with every pitch, as the Bees answered again in the top of the second with a home run to tie the game at 5-5. 

That score would remain until the fifth inning when the Eagles pushed ahead three runs on a Blake Stempowski two run double, and a Alex Wickett RBI single. Allan Navarro added an RBI single in the sixth inning to give Judson a 9-5 lead. With order seemingly restored, JU looked to be in prime position to take game one. 

However, St. Ambrose rallied to score 11 runs between the 7th and 9th innings to take a lead of 16-9 going into the bottom of the ninth inning. Being aggressive, Judson was able to get a few runs back, but it was not enough as the final score was in favor of the Bees 16-11. 

But, the bottom of the ninth inning was a precursor for what was to come in game two. 

St. Ambrose got out to a quick lead of 1-0 in the first inning against Owen Wanner. They also added two more runs in the fifth inning. 

Facing a 3-0 deficit in the bottom of the 7th inning, and in danger of losing both games, Judson rallied in the final inning. 

Ryan Pitzer and Diego Munoz each singled, and Nate Stempowski walked to load the bases. Kevin Flores got the Eagles on the board with an RBI groundout. 

Down to their final out, Allan Navarro reached on an error, which also allowed another run to score to make the game 3-2 in favor of the Bees. But with two outs, and two runners on base, Kyle Schwartz delivered a two run double to end the game, and end the afternoon in jubilation for the JU crowd. Schwartz' game winning hit delivered an epic comeback win for Judson 4-3 in a much needed win. 

Wanner, who went all seven innings earned his sixth win on the season. 

With the win, the Eagles earned a split and keeps Judson alive in the top of the standings. The two teams will play a double header on Saturday at St. Ambrose to complete the series. 

As it stands, the Eagles are three games back of the Bees with 10 games remaining in the regular season. The top four teams are closely bunched as the regular season winds down. 

An epic walk off win could be what the doctor ordered to help propel this team toward another postseason run.