AUBURNDALE, Fla.-The Union College baseball team opened 2016 with a split against St. Olaf, Sunday evening in Auburndale, Fla.
The Dutchmen took game one 7-2, while the Oles took game two 6-2.
In the opening game, junior
Jake Fishman posted a dominant performance on the mound, striking out 15 batters and allowing no runs on six hits wiith no walks.
The Dutchmen broke a scoreless tie in the third inning when
Jake Vesling plated
Jamie Faber with a two-out RBI single and added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Eric Egan scored on a Faber RBI single and
Joe Ganim drove in
Mike Fitzsimmons with another clutch two-out RBI single to give the Dutchmen a 3-0 lead.
Union kept rolling in the fifth, tacking on three more runs.
Kent Curran delivered a double to deep left-center field, scoring
Harrison Glatt, who led off the inning with a single. Fitzsimmons followed with a towering two-run shot to right-center to make it 6-0.Glatt added one more run for the Dutchmen in th bottom of the sixth with an RBI single.
The Oles managed to pull two back in the top of the seventh, but that's as close as they would get.
Faber finished 3-for-3 at the plate, while Ganim, Glatt and Fitzsimmons both went 2-for-3.
In the night cap, St. Olaf took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, as Nate Bauer produced an RBI double before later scoring on a throwing error.
The Dutchmen cut their deficit in half in the top of the third when
Nate Olson scored on a passed ball, but Tim Maus restored the Oles three-run lead in the bottom half the inning with an RBI triple.
Jake Mathison pushed St. Olaf's lead to 5-1 with a two-RBI single in the bottom of the fourth. Mathison contributed his third RBI of the game in the bottom of the six with an RBI double, before closing out the game on the mound with a one-two-three inning.
St. Olaf starting pitcher Kade Cronin allowed no earned runs on four hits with seven strikeouts over 5/.2 innings.
Adam Ashenfarb took the loss on the mound for the Dutchmen.
Union returns to action Monday, March 21 with games against #13 Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Farmingdalte. The Dutchmen take on the Pointers at 9 a.m. before facing the Rams at 3 p.m.