At 1 p.m. on January 30 the Union University baseball team departed from Fesmire Field to face their Opening Day opponent, Limestone University, in Gaffney, SC for a three-game series. With a young and fresh team, the Bulldogs were eager to break a six-year skid without an opening weekend win.
“We’re gonna compete,” Sam Poindexter, graduate assistant and former Union starting pitcher, said. “You always have that nervous energy going into Opening Day. We just gotta be able to channel that… controlled chaos. I think we’re going to push the envelope a lot, play aggressive, and just go right at them and attack.
“We’re not scared of anybody.”
This proved true as Union played the first of a three-game series against Limestone University at Founders FCU Stadium at 1 p.m. on Friday. The season opener ended triumphantly for the Bulldogs who claimed their first Opening day victory for the first time in six years in a 6-4 win.
Starting pitcher and senior engineering major, Eli Snelson, pitched five innings of one run ball where he kept Limestone’s offense off balance by extending their swings by locating his cutter away. Relievers Briant Bayzydlo, a sophomore business major, and Noah Toney, a junior exercise science major, both pitched two innings apiece with Toney getting the save. Union’s offense’ was carried by left fielder and senior business administration major, Carson Chavies, who had himself a day with three hits and four RBI’s. Designated hitter Hudson Cepparulo, a redshirt freshman sports management major, got himself his first pair of collegiate hits.
“We’re off to a good start for the season,” Chavies said, following game one. He spoke about his thought process during Opening Day. “It’s my first game, it’s my senior year, so that was going through my head, so I wanted to start it off right. I felt that it went really well, it felt really good at the plate, and it felt good in the field.”
The next day brought fans a whole afternoon and evening of baseball in double-header fashion as game two of the series swung around at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Limestone’s offense exploded immediately with the help of lacking Union pitching, ultimately sending the bulldogs with their tails between their legs by the final score of 18-2, Limestone.
But in what seemed to be a complete 180o turn, Union sought retribution in game three, which saw first pitch at 4:45 p.m. the same day.
After the slugfest put on by Limestone hitters, Union broke out with a tumult of offense with sixteen hits and showed good patience at the plate with eight walks. Chavies racked another three hits, as well as junior business major and first baseman, Grant Ross. Cepparulo broke further out of his freshman shell by going 4-6 with a pair of singles, a double and a mammoth seventh inning three-run homer over the right field wall.
“I honestly thought it wasn’t out,” Cepparulo said, thinking about his first collegiate home run. “I was just thinking about two (second base) hitting a double… and honestly I thought it was going to go foul as well, but it stayed true… and when it went over, I didn’t have any thoughts, I was just super excited to get back to my teammates and all of the high-fives I got.”
The Bulldogs’ bullpen recovered from their prior performance well enough to subdue Limestone’s formally voracious offense. Union took game three in thunderous fashion, taking the series win in a final score of game three, 20-7.
Union’s next game is a the first of a three game set at UVA Wise on February 8 at 12 p.m. Their record is 2-1.