JACKSON, Tenn. – The Union University baseball team staged a late comeback, erupting for 12 runs in the game’s final two innings, and defeated Lane College 18-8 in a truncated Tuesday afternoon affair at Fesmire Field.
Union tallied 15 hits, walked eight times, stole 11 bases and benefited from seven Dragon errors in the crosstown rivalry victory. Union improved to 5-5 on the season; Lane is 0-5.
Trailing 8-6 after six innings, the Bulldogs scored eight runs in the seventh inning and four in the eighth to reach the 10-run mercy rule threshold.
Nick Stamper and substitutes Colby Davis and Jake Keyl had two hits apiece in the contest, while 12 Bulldogs recorded a knock in all. With a hit, three walks and a hit batsman, Kylon Joyner reached base five times and scored on four occasions. Grant Ross’s eighth-inning double was Union’s lone extra-base hit.
After a frame and a half, Lane held a 6-0 lead that vanished when Union scored three in its next two turns at bat. The Dragons pushed across a pair in the sixth inning but disintegrated an inning later and entered the eighth down six runs.
Ryan Evans, Nathan Myers, Carter Daniel and Noah Toney pitched in relief of starter Eli Jackson. Daniel and Toney both posted zeros in appearances of 1.2 and 1.0 innings, respectively.
Lane second baseman Trey Babbitt finished 4-4 with a double, while Gabriel Garza, Eli Garcia and Nick Deterding each reached base three times.
Union’s 11 stolen bases are the team’s most in a game since the Bulldogs swiped the same total against Morthland College in 2014. In that game, like on Tuesday, the Bulldogs were 11 for 11 on steal attempts. Dyllon Barrett, Carson Chavies, Matthew Autry, Joyner and Davis had two stolen bases each
The Bulldogs improved to 10-0 against the SIAC’s Dragons since 2012. The teams will meet again this season on March 11.
Union will play its second GSC series on Friday and Saturday at Delta State (8-3, 3-0).
