SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Liberty League Crossover Series will go to game three as the Union College baseball team split a doubleheader against Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday afternoon at Central Park A Diamond. RIT took game one 8-6, and Union rallied back for a 12-2 win in seven innings in game two.

Junior Thomas Parisi extended his hitting streak to 18 straight games and his reached base streak to 42 consecutive games.

Game One: RIT 8, Union 6
Union struggled offensively at the plate in the first game with only six hits, but drew nine walks. Junior Sam Strazza scored twice with a hit and an RBI. Sophomore Liam McIlroy had two RBIs for the Garnet Chargers.

RIT jumped out to a 1-0 lead In the first period. Union tied it up in the bottom of the second with an RBI single by senior Ryan Cowles.

RIT took a 3-1 lead in the third with a two-run homerun by Jarin Moses. Charlie Slaymaker added a two-run homerun in the fourth and John Bagley followed up with a solo homerun to give the Tigers 6-1 lead. RIT tacked on another run in the top of the fifth to give the visitors a six-run lead.

Union battled back with five runs in the bottom of the fifth. Senior Sebastian Pike hit a sac fly to left field with the bases loaded for the first run of the frame. Strazza drew a bases-loaded walk to bring a run in and sophomore Cooper Ames grounded out, but drove a runner in. McIlroy hit a bases-loaded RBI single to drive in two runners to make it a one-run game.

RIT added one final run in the top of the sixth off an RBI double for the final run of the game.

Junior Chris Suter falls to 5-3 on the season with eight runs, seven earned, on 11 hits, with three strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work. Junior Aidan McGee pitched 2.2 scoreless innings of relief with only one hit and one strikeout.

Game Two: Union 12, RIT 2 (7 innings)
In a tale of two games, Union put 12 hits on the board and limited the Tigers to only three hits.

Parisi, Zaslaw, and Strazza all recorded a multi-hit game in the rubber match.

RIT jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the top half of the first inning. Union responded with five runs in the bottom of the frame. With runners on second and third, senior Kobe Mentzer grounded out, but McIlroy scored. Junior Kyle Zaslaw singled to right field to drive in Union's second run. Strazza launched a three-run homerun into center field to put Union up 5-2. Union made it a four-run game in the third inning.

Ames hit a leadoff double in the fourth and made it to third on a fly out by Cowles. Parisi reached first on a fielding error and Ames raced home for the score.

Union added four more runs in the fifth. McIlroy drove a two-run RBI single to left center and in the next at-bat, Parisi hit a bases-clearinng triple to put the Garnet Chargers up 11-2. An RBI single by Strazza in the sixth gave Union a 10 run lead.
 
First-year Jack Collins pitched a complete game for the Garnet Chargers. Collins allowed two runs on three hits with one walk and two strikeouts in the seven-inning game.

Union looks to clinch the series with the Tigers to earn a spot in the Liberty League Tournament in game three tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. at Central Park A Diamond.