PORT CHARLOTTE, FL – The 29th-ranked St. Olaf baseball team held on to an early lead to defeat Union College, 5-3, at the Charlotte County Sports Complex Stadium Monday afternoon. The Oles took an early 4-0 lead and thwarted a Union comeback to win their fifth-straight game. Union falls to 1-4 on the short season.
Colin McKelligan (Canton, MA/Salisbury School) led the Dutchmen, going four-for-four on the day, and
Scott Carroll (Scituate, MA/ Scituate) went two-for-three with an RBI and a run scored. Left-handed reliever
Scott Coblyn (Sherborn, MA/ Dover-Sherborn) gave up just one unearned run in eight innings.
St. Olaf scored four early runs, collecting one in the top of the first inning on a Luke Gagnon RBI single, and adding three in the following frame. Kyle McDermott started off the second inning reaching base after getting hit by the pitch. The senior catcher advanced to second as Josh Maus reached base on a throwing error. Todd Mathison loaded the bases as he walked to first. Andrew Schmiesing plated McDermott and Maus with a short single to take a 3-1 lead with no outs.
Chris Terrazas colleced an RBI single from Coblyn, who had replaced Union starter
John Moore (Wesport, MA/ Moses Brown), but the next batter flied out to third baseman
Zach Tillo (Lancaster, MA/ Exeter). The Dutchmen ended the inning when Carroll gloved down a line drive and beat Josh Schultheis with a throw to first to escape the inning down, 4-0.
Union strung together four-straight singles to cut the Oles' lead to two in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Colin McKelligan started off with a single to center and advanced when Carroll hit up the middle.
Andy Brown (Saratoga Springs, NY/ Saratoga) advanced the runners with a single to third base, and
Ryan Bowes (Hamilton, NJ/ The Peddie School) plated McKelligan with a shot to right. Carroll crossed the plate when
Kyle Murphy (Plymouth, MA/ Phillips Andover Academy) grounded into a double play.
In the next inning, Union collected three hits off of St. Olaf reliever Alex Beckman and cut the Oles' lead to one.
Josh McKelligan (Canton, MA/Salisbury School) singled to right and advanced to bases on the younger McKelligan's single, and scored on Carroll's single. Carroll went two-for-three with an RBI on the day.
Holding onto a one-run lead, the Oles pulled out an insurance run in the top of the eighth inning. Mathison reached on an error and advanced on a series of hits. He crossed the plate on a Gagnon sacrifice fly to right.
Moore gave up four runs on four hits in one inning. St. Olaf starter Alex Sommer earned the win with two runs on six hits in five innings. Justin Tobias picked up the save with a strikeout in the final inning.
The two teams will meet again on Tuesday afternoon in a 4:30 pm game in Port Charlotte.
