LOUDONVILLE, NY- The Union College baseball team swept two games from the University of Rochester on Saturday, capturing the Liberty League baseball title and automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Facing elimination, the Dutchmen (26-10-1) won game one 7-4 and then took the winner-take-all game two 6-4 for the schools first ever conference tournament championship. Rochester's record drops to 25-16 on the year.
In game one, Union broke a 3-3 game open, scoring four times in the bottom of the eighth inning, putting the home team up 7-3. Rochester would challenge in the top of the ninth, scoring one and loading the bases, but Chris Pignatello left them loaded, sending the teams to a decisive final game.
UR senior
Nate Mulberg was 2-3 with two RBI while Friday's hero
Brendan Garry added two hits and an RBI. Those two were selected to the All-Tournament team along with Thursday and Friday starters
Dan Warren and
Josh Schulman.
Union was able to get on the board first in bottom of the 2nd, scoring on a squeeze play. Garry and Mulberg would provide RBI singles up the middle in the 4th, grabbing a 2-1 lead for the Yellowjackets. Jake Fishman would tie the score with an RBI base hit in the bottom of the 4th for the Dutchmen.
Freshman shortstop
Brandon Heinrich singled in a run in the top of the 8th giving UR the lead back before Union tacked on four in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good. Anders Goetz singled in two runs before Vincent Esposito and Sam Caruso added RBI's to complete the scoring.
In the 9th, Mulberg got an RBI drawing a bases loaded walk with two outs, but Heinrich grounded out ending the game. UR's
Matt Todd started and went 3 1/3 innings, allowing four hits, two runs and two walks while striking out one. Freshman
David Strandberg picked up the loss in 3 2/3 innings of relief.
Union's Greg Geisel tossed seven innings in a no-decision while Pignatello pitched the final two frames for the Dutchmen in picking up the win.
In the nightcap, both teams scored in the first, with UR getting two on a Garry 2-RBI single. Union answered right away putting up four runs on starter
Andrew Crean. Kent Curran had a sac fly, Fishman singled to center for an RBI and Worley drove in two with his single to right.
In the second, Todd singled up the middle, scoring
Jake Meyerson, chipping away at the lead and then
Ethan Sander singled to left in the fourth, scoring Heinrich to pull UR even at 4-4.
The Dutchmen would get a run right back in the bottom of the fourth when Caruso drove in Worley for the go ahead and eventual winning run. Worley added insurance in the 5th, driving in Curran for the final run of the game.
Crean picked up the loss for Rochester, making his first start of the season. He went 4 2/3 innings, allowed eight hits, six runs (4 earned) and walked three while fanning two.
Ethan McGowan pitched the remaining 3 1/3 allowing just one hit and one walk for UR.
Andrew Beaule picked up the win in relief for Union, a day after tossing a complete game on Friday. He threw 5 1/3 innings of scoreless ball while surrendering five hits and three walks with five strikeouts. Dane O'Neil who took the loss against UR Friday got the last out of the game for his first save.
Beaule and Fishman from Union were named Co-Tournament Most Outstanding Players for their efforts. Joining them and the four Yellowjackets were Caruso, Dave Peretti and Goetz from Union along with Trent Berg and Jason Garfinkel from Vassar.
In game two, Sander finished 3-4 with an RBI while
Lance Hamilton went 3-5. Worley finished 3-4 with three RBI and a run for Union and Caruso was 2-4 with an RBI.
With the wins, Union earns the Liberty League automatic qualifier into the NCAA Division III Tournament. Rochester will have to wait and see if their resume is good enough to earn an at-large bid into the field. In the most recent NCAA Regional Rankings, UR was 5th in the New York Region. The tournament field is announced on Monday on ncaa.com.
