TROY, N.Y. – The Union College baseball team homered four times during a split with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday afternoon, winning the first game 10-3 and falling 4-1 in the second at Robison Field at Karl Steffen Ballpark.

Game 1: Union 10, RPI 3
Junior Jacob Skarlis was tough to hit in the longest outing of his career. He earned the win for Union (7-13, 2-4 Liberty League) after eight innings of four-hit baseball, striking out five. Skarlis set down RPI (16-7, 7-1 Liberty League) in order on four occasions, including retiring the last eight batters he faced. 

Skarlis had a four-run cushion by the time he stepped on the mound in the bottom of the third. Union scored three runs in the second on two walks, two singles, two wild pitches, an Engineers error, and a sacrifice fly from sophomore Benjamin Raphael. Sophomore Michael Del scored on one of the wild pitches and drove in a run with a single. 

Union also displayed some power after scoring three times with some small ball. First-year Evan Lagemann, and seniors Andrew Keaveney and Cooper Ames all went deep for the first time this season. Lagemann's first collegiate homer gave the Garnet Chargers a 10-2 lead in the top of the ninth as they handed RPI its first conference loss of the season. 

Game 2: RPI 4, Union 1
The Garnet Chargers had a chance to strike first in the second game of the day, but Keaveney was cut down at home trying to score on a single from junior Ryan Kolodziejczyk. After RPI got on the board first, senior Caleb Miller tied the game up by crushing the 21st homer of his college career. He is four home runs away from tying the program record held by Colin Kelly '21.

First-year Alex Casey pitched well through his six innings of work, striking our four with five hits. However, Union could not produce any more runs after Miller's homer and only had three hits the rest of the way. 

Two of those base knocks came during a potential ninth-inning rally. Miller cracked a double followed by a Dylan Swarts single, but Zac Zajac eventually retired the Union bats for his second save against the Garnet Chargers this weekend. 

Union returns home to take on Russell Sage College on Tuesday, April 7 at 6 p.m.