PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – The University of Rochester baseball team smacked around 17 hits in a game one victory over Union, earning a 12-2 triumph in a Liberty League doubleheader matchup on Saturday at Towers Field.

Union responded with a ten-run victory in game two, dispatching URochester 13-3, salvaging a split. The rubber game of the weekend series concludes on Sunday, with first pitch set for 11:30 am.
 
With each team winning once, UR's record moves to 9-15 overall on the season and 2-9 in Liberty League play, while Union now sits at 10-14 overall and 3-5 in the conference.
 
Game 1: Rochester 12, Union 2
In addition to the offensive outburst, the Yellowjackets got a solid pitching performance from the two arms used in game one. Sophomore Andrew Lenhard started and went five innings, earning his second win of the season, while classmate Theo Beckley picked up a save with three scoreless innings to close things out.
 
Lenhard finished the day striking out a career-high six batters over his outing, surrendering just five hits, two runs and three walks. Beckley's outing featured just two hits and no runs or walks allowed in addition to four strikeouts.
 
At the plate, four URochester first-years and one sophomore finished with multiple hits. Jake Bentivenga finished 4-for-5 with 2 doubles, 2 runs and 4 RBI, ending the game with a walk-off RBI single to reach the 10-run mercy rule in the bottom of the eighth. Teammate Carlos Barajas also had four hits, going 4-for-5 with four runs scored and an RBI.
 
Rookie Ryan Huckabone hit his first career collegiate home run in the win, going 3-for-4 with 2 runs and 3 RBI, also chipping in a double. Logan Mathias finished 2-for-3 with two runs and a triple, while the lone sophomore in the batting order, Jake Goldberg, also chipped in a 2-for-4 day, driving in two runs.
 
URochester struck first in game one, getting RBI singles from Goldberg and Declan Jack in the bottom of the second inning. In the third, Bentivenga's first double allowed Barajas to score, boosting the lead to 3-0.
 
The Garnet Chargers got back into it in the fifth inning against Lenhard, scoring two on a two-out double by Dylan Swarts. UR escaped the inning though on a weird play, with a pop-up to the mound dropping in between a gaggle of fielders. Barajas was able to recover on defense, gunning down Swarts at the plate, keeping the 'Jackets in front.
 
In the bottom of the inning, the 'Jackets tacked on two more to regain a 3-run cushion. After Barajas led off with a single and moved up on one of three Teddy Monahan sacrifice bunts in game one, Bentivenga laced another double to score a run. Two batters later, Goldberg ripped a single to right, making it a 5-2 ballgame.
 
URochester kept the scoring streak going in the sixth, with Huckabone scoring on a balk with two outs, just before a strikeout ended the inning.
 
The next inning, Beckley pitched around a one-out double with back-to-back looking strikeouts, giving UR momentum to tack on four more runs in its half of the seventh.
 
A Bentivenga single up the middle made it 7-2 URochester before Huckabone's towering home run cleared the left center field wall, scoring three more runs to put the 'Jackets up by eight.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, George Farley IV was hit by a pitch with one out and stole second and third to quickly get in scoring position. Barajas then singled up the middle to drive him in, getting URochester within one of the run-rule victory.
 
After Monahan ripped a single, Bentivenga clubbed another hit, which likely would have gone for extra bases had the game not been over with Barajas touching home from third to make the score 12-2.
 
Game 2: Union 13, Rochester 3
The reverse of game one happened in the night cap, with the Garnet Chargers plating runs in six of the nine innings to post their 10-run victory. Five Yellowjacket errors defensively also aided in the loss for the home team, with five of the 13 runs allowed being unearned.
 
URochester was able to take the game two lead in the first inning though, with Bentivenga providing a sacrifice fly to score Farley IV, earning his fifth RBI of the day.
 
Union answered though, scoring nine straight runs to take a 9-1 lead in the middle of the fifth. At one point, the Garnet Chargers scored on four straight doubles across the third and fourth innings, with Union ending with nine two-baggers in the game two victory.
 
In the fifth and sixth, the Yellowjackets were able to scrape single runs across, but would not get any closer, with Union closing out the scoring in the eighth and ninth with several more run-scoring extra base hits.
 
Monahan drove in a run with an RBI fielders choice in the fifth for the 'Jackets, while Randy Davis was the beneficiary of a Union error in the sixth, reaching base while allowing Mathias to score.
 
Two more doubles and triple completed Union's scoring in the late innings, reaching the 13-3 final score.
 
Union's Caleb Miller finished 4-for-6 with 3 doubles, 3 runs and 2 RBI. Swarts had 2 doubles, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored, while Andrew Keaveney stuffed the stat sheet with a double, 2 RBI, 2 runs and 3 walks.
 
For URochester, Farley IV finished 2-for-5 with a double, two runs and a stolen base. Mathias also was 2-for-4, while Huckabone finished 2-for-3 with a double.
 
On the mound, Derek Llanes started and took the loss for UR, allowing seven hits and five runs across three innings. Four other pitchers closed out the game for the 'Jackets, with Tristan Datta seeing the most success, tossing a 1-2-3 inning in just eight pitches.
 
For Union, Alex Oppenheimer picked up his third win of the season, going 5.1 innings. He allowed six hits and three runs (two earned), with one walk and one strikeout.