February 5 and 6 marked the start of Union University’s 2015 baseball and softball seasons. On Thursday, Feb. 5 the Union baseball team squared off against Bethel University in their home opener.
At the end of the eighth inning, the score was tied 6-6. However, at the top of the 12th inning, Bethel managed to load the bases and go up 8-6, taking the game.
On Friday, Feb. 6 the Bulldogs began a three game series against Blue Mountain College out of Mississippi. However, Blue Mountain proved to be too much for Union in game one as the Toppers won 15-3.
The series continued on Saturday, Feb. 7 with game times set for 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
In game two of the series, Blue Mountain jumped out to a 9-0 lead and was able to hold on throughout the game to win 16-4.
In the final game of the weekend, Union worked hard to trail 6-8 in the top of the ninth inning. The Bulldogs were able to load the bases with only one out. However, Union’s next two batters struck out to call the game, giving the Toppers the third and final victory of the series.
After the first four games of the season, Caleb Warnimont, senior exercise science major and second baseman leads the Bulldogs with a .533 batting average. Jim Martin, a senior math major and first baseman leads with four runs scored, and Chaz Wilson, a sophomore accounting major and catcher for the team has four doubles on the season.
Warinmont felt this first week of play told the team a lot about themselves that will be helpful for the remainder of the season.
“Overall I think we found out where our weaknesses are this week,” said Warnimont. “Individually, we have to focus on playing hard and doing our part when we are called upon. Focusing on one pitch at a time and not making the game bigger than it needs to be is our goal for our next game.”
On Friday, Feb. 6 the Lady Bulldogs traveled to Huntsville, Alabama to take on No. 9 the University of North Georgia and Ferris State University out of Big Rapids, Michigan.
The Lady Bulldogs dropped their first game to North Georgia, 8-0. However, the team was able to regain their composer and defeat Ferris State 6-2 in their second match of the afternoon.
On Saturday, Feb. 7 the softball team continued play in Huntsville against Southern Arkansas University and Saint Joseph’s College (Indiana).
The Lady Bulldogs pulled out a 9-4 win over Southern Arkansas and a 6-2 win over Saint Joseph’s.
Union was led by Whitney Christian, junior short stop and accounting major, with a .455 batting average. Reagan Schrader, a junior utility player and psychology major scored a total of five runs and Alex Williams, a senior pitcher and athletic training major had a total of six runs batted in.
Williams thought the team did a really good job of coming together and capturing a couple of solid wins for the weekend.
“We were able, especially towards the end of the weekend, to finish strong,” said Williams. “We also avoided becoming complacent when we were ahead which is a big thing for us. We just need to keep our momentum going into these next games.”
