AMSTERDAM, N.Y. – Senior Jono Santos hit three homeruns for the Union College baseball team in Sunday afternoon's doubleheader split against Ithaca College at Shuttleworth Park. Union (12-12, 4-6 Liberty League) came from behind to walk off game one, 8-7, before dropping game two to Ithaca (17-11, 7-4 Liberty League) by a score of 23-5.

Santos accounted for three of the 10 combined homeruns hit in the doubleheader. The senior went 4-for-6 with four RBI and three runs scored.

Game One: Union 8, Ithaca 7

Down 7-5 going into the bottom of the ninth inning, Union crossed home three times for the walk-off victory.

Santos knocked his first homerun, a solo blast into left field, in the second inning to give Union an early 1-0 lead.

The Bombers plated two in the fourth inning, but Union was quick to respond in the bottom of the stanza with a two-run homerun from junior Kobe Mentzer. Ithaca knotted the game at three in the top of the fifth.

The bats broke open in the top of the sixth for the visiting Bombers. After two singles and a balk to lead off the inning, Connor Pedersen drove a single into left field and two runs scored. Pedersen scored later in the frame on an RBI single to give Ithaca a 6-3 lead.

Union began mounting a comeback in the eighth inning. After a single by junior Ryan Cowles to get on base, first-year Caleb Miller drove a homerun into deep right field to cut the lead to one.
Ithaca plated their final run in the top of the ninth to make it a 7-5 game.

The Union bats came alive in the ninth, starting with a leadoff homerun by Santos for his second of the game. With two outs, first-year Liam McIlroy drew a walk as a pinch hitter and senior Dan Choate entered the game as a pinch runner. First-year Cooper Ames came in to pinch his and drove a single into center field while Choate raced to third. First-year Jack Klein pinch ran for Ames and junior Ryan Cowles knocked an RBI single through the right side. Miller drove an RBI single into right field and Klein raced home to give Union the walk-off win.

Sophomore Aidan McGee started for Union and pitched six complete innings. McGee fanned four and allowed six runs, five earned, on 10 hits. Sophomore Alex Erickson earned his first collegiate win after pitching the final three frames. Erickson allowed one run on two hits and struck out five.

Game Two: Ithaca 23, Union 5

Ithaca opened the scoring in the first inning, plating two runs for an early lead.

Union battled back in the bottom of the second to knot the game at two. After Mentzer singled to lead off the inning, Santos launched his third homerun of the day over the left field fence.

The Ithaca bats broke the game open in the third inning, scoring nine runs to take an 11-2 lead. The Bombers kept the pressure on, recording a solo homerun in the fourth, and back-to-back homeruns in the fifth to make it 16-2.

Union tacked on three runs in the final inning, but ultimately fell to the visiting Bombers.

Senior Ben Mlavsky falls to 1-1 on the season after giving up six runs on eight hits in two innings. Senior Harry Azadian allowed only one hit and struck out two in the final inning.

Union is back in action on Tuesday with a nonconference game at Castleton University. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Spartan Fields.