SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Union College freshman pitcher
Devin Martin picked up his first collegiate victory in a 9-7 win over Skidmore on Saturday afternoon at Castle Diamond. The Dutchmen earned the series win with the victory but were unable to complete the sweep after dropping game one 4-1.
Union now leads the Liberty League with a 9-3-1 league record and 15-6-1 overall mark while Skidmore is 7-18 and 2-12 in Liberty League play.
In the first game, Jeff Spindel went six innings, allowing one run on three hits with no walks and two strikeouts in six plus innings. Daniel Dasgupta picked up his first save of the season in relief.
Skidmore scored one in the second inning, when Mat Marino singled and advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Dan Miller.
The Thoroughbreds made it 4-0 with three more in the third. Alex Pavelock had a two-run single and Marino contributed an RBI single.
Union scored its lone run in the seventh when sophomore pinch runner
Eric Egan scored on an RBI single by sophomore
Chris Carbone.
Marino finished 3-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Nick Barra was 2-3 with a run.
Freshman
Kent Curran (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing four runs on five hits over three innings.
Greg Geisel pitched three solid innings of scoreless relief.
In the second game, Union scored seven runs on three hits in the third inning to take an early 7-0 lead. Senior outfielder
Sam Caruso and Curran each had two-run singles to key the rally, helped by three Skidmore errors, two walks, and a hit batter.
The Dutchmen added two more in the fifth to open a 9-0 lead.
The Thoroughbreds battled back with a run in the sixth and five in the seventh. In the sixth, Marino continued his hot hitting with a triple and scored on a Spindel single.
Skidmore sent 10 batters to the plate in the seventh, scoring five runs on seven hits. Alex Pavelock had a two-run homer and Marco Baratta and Nick Barra had back-to-back RBI doubles.
The Thoroughbreds cut it to 9-7 in the ninth, when Marino hit his second triple of the game and scored on an infield error.
Marino finished 4-5 with three runs in the game and 7-8 for the day. Pavelock was 2-5 with two RBI and Spindel went 3-5 with two RBI. Nick Petrella was tagged with the loss. Mike LaVita and Justin Willig combined for three innings of scoreless relief to finish the game.
Curran was 2-4 for Union with two RBI.
Devin Martin earned his first collegiate win with six strong innings, allowing one run on six hits, with one walk and three strikeouts.
Chris Pignatello earned his fourth save of the season with 2.1 innings of relief.
The Dutchmen return to action on Tuesday when they host Southern Vermont at East Side Recreational Park in Saratoga Springs for a game under the lights. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
