AMSTERDAM, N.Y. – It took 10 games and six innings before Union's bats got back to where they left off in 2018, as the Dutchmen defeated St. Lawrence 10-3 and 22-3 to win the Liberty League series on Sunday at Shuttleworth Park.
The 22 runs scored in the second game is the most that the Dutchmen have scored in a single game since scoring 21 against SUNY Cobleskill on April 8, 2010.
With the two wins Union improved to 5-7 on the season and 3-1 in Liberty League play, while St. Lawrence falls to 2-10 and 1-3 in league play.
On the day, Union had six batters that hit over .300 with at-bats in both games. As a team, Union hit .388 between the two games, registering 33 hits in 85 at-bats. On the mount, the Union pitchers combined for a 2.81 ERA and kept the Saints to a .254 average with 19 strikeouts.
The Dutchmen were led by
Joe Ganim who went 4-for-6 (.667), with two runs and two RBI's. Sophomore
Elias Kuhns went 4-for-8 (.500), but had two home runs on the day, one in each game, to score a total of three runs and seven RBI's.
Five other Dutchmen had home runs on the day:
Colin Kelly,
Chad Salazar,
Chris O'Brien,
Andy Labeck and
Justin Cabanas.
The first game of the day started off as a pitching duel, as the two teams entered the sixth inning tied at 1-1. Union took a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth, thanks to a double from Kuhns, but the Saints answered back with two runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-2 lead into the final frame.
The seventh inning was when the Dutchmen's bats woke up. Union posted five-straight hits, which included three home runs, two which were back-to-back, to take a 10-3 lead.
Josh Garber then finished off the Saints in the bottom of the inning to secure the win.
Union carried the momentum from the end of the first game into the second, as the Dutchmen scored 15 runs off 12 hits and three errors, with six runs coming in the first and nine in the second. The Dutchmen added solo runs in the fourth and fifth to go up 17-3.
In the final two innings, the Dutchmen took advantage of the Saints' relief pitchers. Salazar and O'Brien hit their first collegiate home runs in the eighth to extend Union's lead to 20-3. In the ninth, a single from O'Brien and a grounder by Lopez provided the Dutchmen with their final runs of the contest.
Labeck pitched the first 5.2 innings game two, conceding just two runs on three hits, while striking out nine.
Tim Curtis then pitched 1.1 innings, while
Blake Newcomer and
Colin Nye pitched one inning each to finish out the game for the Dutchmen.
Union hits the road next weekend, taking on RIT for a conference series in Rochester, April 6-7. Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. (ET) and Sunday's is set to start at noon.
