CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Union College baseball team dropped its first two games of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling to SUNY Cortland by the scores of 8-1 and 10-5 in non-conference action at Wallace Field.
 
Game One: Cortland 8, Union 1
 
After a successful opening weekend, the Union offense managed just seven hits in a game-one loss.
 
Cortland scratched out an unearned run in the second inning to take the lead, then added another in the fourth on an RBI single by Mat Bruno.  After Union left the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, the Red Dragons responded with four runs in the bottom half to break the game open. Colin BeVard began the scoring with an RBI single, followed by a run-scoring double by James Varian and an error that plated two more.
 
The Dutchmen scored their lone run in the eighth inning, when first-year Sebastian Pike hit a one-out double and, after advancing to third on a balk, came home on a sacrifice fly by senior Colin Kelly.
 
Junior James Salemme (1-1) took the loss for Union, allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits in 4.1 innings. Cortland's Ryan Flansburg (2-0) earned the win by tossing six scoreless innings and striking out seven.
 
Game Two: Cortland 10, Union 5
 
The Dutchmen jumped out to an early lead in game two, but a big second inning put Cortland back on top and the Red Dragons cruised from there in a 10-5 win.
 
Union plated two runs in the top of the first inning to take the early lead. Senior Jack Koch led off the game with a walk before eventually coming home on a sacrifice fly from senior Kevin Chaimowitz, and that was followed by an RBI single from junior Jack DiNanno that plated Kelly.
 
But after a scoreless first inning, Cortland responded with seven runs in the second inning to take control of the game. The big hits came off the bats of Andrew Michalski, who singled home a pair of runs to tie the game, and Ben Rhodes, whose three-run double gave the home team a 6-2 lead.
 
The Red Dragons added three runs in the bottom of the fifth, which Union got back in the top of the sixth thanks to a bases-clearing double by Koch. However, the Dutchmen could get no closer.
 
Junior Chris Murdock took the loss for Union, allowing three runs in one-plus innings of work. Cortland's six pitchers combined to allow only seven hits in seven innings.
 
Union will return to Liberty League play next weekend with a four-game series with Rochester Institute of Technology, beginning with two games in Rochester on Saturday starting at 1 p.m.