To kick off Gulf South Conference play this year, Union’s baseball and softball teams traveled to Cleveland, Tennessee to take on the Lee University Flames for a three game series over the weekend.
The Lady Bulldogs were down early in their first game on Friday. The Flames jumped ahead with two runs in the first inning and one run in the third.
Pushing through until the end, the Lady Bulldogs capitalized on an error made by the Flames in the sixth inning and scored four runs to put them in the lead. These last minute runs gave Union the 4-3 win.
“I think that we did a really good job the first game of not giving up on ourselves,” said Reagan Schrader, junior psychology major and third basemen and catcher for the team. “We were down three runs going into the top of the sixth and just rallied together to come back.”
On Saturday, the Lady Bulldogs split the last two games of the series. Union scored four runs in the third to give them the lead. The Flames responded the next inning with one run, but the Lady Bulldogs finished the game with a score of 5-3.
The last game of the series between the Lady Bulldogs and the Flames was a hard fought game. Despite scoring a run in five out of the seven innings, the Lady Bulldogs came up just short. The Flames scored four runs in the second and sixth inning, and one in the seventh to give them a 9-8 win.
The next game for the Lady Bulldogs will be played Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. at Maryville University (Missouri).
The Union University baseball team had a strong showing in all three games this weekend at Lee University, but were unable to come home with a win.
On Friday night, Lee scored two runs in the third inning. The Bulldogs did not allow any more runs for the Flames, but they were unable to pick up any runs for themselves. The only offense generated by the Bulldogs were three singles from Caleb Warnimont, senior exercise science major and second baseman, Jim Martin, senior math major and first baseman and Chaz Wilson, sophomore accounting major and catcher .
The final score was 2-0, Lee University.
On Saturday’s first game, the Bulldogs gained an early two run lead in the third inning.
The Bulldogs were unable to keep the lead, and the Flames scored one run in the sixth and two in the eighth to secure a win of 3-2.
The last game of the series was just as close as the first two.
Lee took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Union tied the game up in the third inning on a walk by Trae Bain, junior exercise science major and pitcher, which brought Austin Orr, freshmen exercise science major and shortstop, home to score a run.
Lee gained back their lead in the fifth inning with one run and added another run in the sixth, which made the final score 3-1, Lee University.
“There are three main components of baseball: pitching, fielding and hitting,” said Daniel Mathis a junior biochemistry major and outfielder and pitcher for the team. “Unfortunately, we have yet to put all three together in one game. This weekend, we were able to stay in each game due to solid pitching and defense. I believe once we put all three together we will gain confidence and begin building a winning culture.”
The Bulldogs continue conference play at home Saturday, Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. against Mississippi College.
