JACKSON, Tenn. – On Feb. 9, the Union University baseball team went 2-0 against Washburn University. Union’s record moves to 4-3 overall while Washburn’s record falls to 2-4 overall.
In game one, the Bulldogs rallied back after being down 7-1 through two innings to defeat Washburn 9-8. Washburn jumped out to an early lead over Union, scoring seven runs on six hits and no errors. Payton Mcharg, who homered three times for the Ichabods in last night’s game, hit a homer in his first at-bat of the evening, helping Washburn lead by six runs after two innings.
Freshman pitchers Cole Smith and Brody Mann combined for 6.2 innings of scoreless baseball for the Bulldogs. Smith tossed 3.2 innings of worked and collected three strikeouts. Mann, a native of Fairview, Tenn., picked up his first career win after throwing three innings of shutout baseball. Mann picked up three strikeouts in the outing.
The Bulldogs began to chip away at the Ichabods in the fourth inning, scoring at-least a run in four of the final six innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Union scored two runs to take their first lead of the game. The winning run came off the bat of Sophomore outfielder Jake Keyl. Elijah Ramsey followed Keyl’s RBI single with a single of his own. Ramsey’s single gave the Bulldogs a two-run cushion going into the top of the ninth inning.
Union was led offensively Elijah Ramsey, who went 3-4 at the dish. Ramsey picked up three runs batted in for the Bulldog offense. Alec Hardy also found success at the plate, reaching safely four times (two hits, two walks). Hardy picked up one RBI in the effort.
Senior Jamal Allen picked up his first save of the season to close out the Bulldog’s victory over Washburn. Allen picked up two strikeouts in his lone inning of work.
In game two of the doubleheader, which was a seven-inning game, the Bulldogs were down 13-7 going into the bottom of the seventh and rallied to 13-10. With two runners on and one out, Jake Keyl smashed a game-tying homerun, sending the game to extras.
Washburn scored one run in the top of the eighth to go ahead 14-13. In Union’s half of the eighth, Ryan Aljancic doubled to center field to score Carson Chavies, who was on second to start the inning because of the international tiebreaker rule. Two batters later, Keyl came up again, this time with the bases loaded and one out. He hit a long sac fly to center, driving in Alec Hardy for the game-winning run with the final being 15-14. This was the third comeback win in a row for the Bulldogs.
Union’s offense combined for 17 hits in the game. Mitch Sisk, Grant Ross, Jake Keyl, and Matthew Autry each had a multi-hit game.
Eli Snelson started the game for Union, going three innings and surrendering nine runs while striking out four. Jack Rasmussen, Sam Galbraith, Ethan Orwig, Billy Beckham, and Ryan Evans threw in relief with Evans getting the win, his second of the season.
The Bulldogs will finish up the four-game set with Washburn tomorrow, Feb. 10, at 1:00 p.m.
