SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - Junior
Tatum Perkins tallied a team-high three hits to extend her career-long hitting streak to 11 in Union's doubleheader with SUNY Oneonta Tuesday, but the Garnet Chargers fell to the Red Dragons in both games by scores of 3-0 and 11-5.
Perkins reached base twice in game one, once via single and once via base on balls, before going 2-for-4 with two runs scored in game two. Sophomore
Haley Gibbons joined her with a hit in game one and a pair in game two, while junior
Riley Callahan and sophomore
Ellie Wintringer also collected two hits in game two as Union tallied double-digit hits for the fourth time in the last six games.
Game One: SUNY Oneonta 3, Union 0
SUNY Oneonta used some savvy baserunning to take a two-run first-inning lead. Delaney Haley took second after a leadoff bunt, and after a wild pitch moved her to third, Adriana Fiori drew a walk and also took second behind the Union defense. A wild pitch allowed both runners to move up and Haley to score, and Fiori later slid in safely on the return throw home on Emily Brown's steal of second to give the Red Dragons a 2-0 lead.
Junior
Autumn Duff settled down after that, allowing just one hit over the next three innings before an unearned run in the fifth extended Oneonta's lead to three.
Union's bats attempted to put together a two-out rally in the sixth. Perkins and Gibbons registered back-to-back singles up the middle before first-year
Sam Rose drew a seven-pitch walk, but a pop-out stranded the bases loaded and the tying run on first.
Duff stranded another Oneonta runner in the top of the seventh to keep the Garnet Chargers within striking distance, but the hosts would be unable to get anything going in the home half as they fell, 3-0.
Duff put together arguably her strong performance this season from the circle, allowing five hits, three runs (two earned), and four walks while striking out three in her complete game. Perkins went 1-for-2 with a walk and was the lone Garnet Charger to reach base twice.
Game Two: SUNY Oneonta 11, Union 5
The visitors continued their first-inning success into game two, turning a leadoff single into a run to take a quick 1-0 lead. Union responded immediately, however, with Wintringer singling in Callahan after a leadoff single of her own to tie the game at one.
Oneonta took advantage of a handful of Union miscues in the next three innings to regain their lead. Errors in the second and third innings provided the Red Dragons a 4-1 advantage before a wild pitch aided the guests in adding another run to their lead one inning later.
Union would strike back, as the middle of their order would come through in the clutch. First-Year
Maddy Ewald drove a single to right to score Perkins in the bottom of the fourth to cut the deficit to three before Gibbons singled to left-center to score Duff and Wintringer and bring Union back within one.
Oneonta put Union away in the last two innings, scoring three runs on five hits in the sixth before a three-run home run in the seventh suddenly provided the Red Dragons their largest lead of the afternoon.
Perkins scored on a
Sam Rose single in Union's final at-bats in the seventh as the Garnet Chargers looked to string together a two-out rally, but Oneonta closed the door to take home the 11-5 win.
Gibbons went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in, a double, and a walk, reaching base a team-high three times. The top half of Union's lineup consisting of Callahan, Duff, Wintringer, Perkins, and Gibbons combined to go 8-for-18 (.444) with all five of Union's runs and three driven in.
Union (6-18) gets right back to action on Wednesday, hosting VTSU Castleton for another doubleheader at 3:00 p.m. at Alexander Field.
