X

Saints baseball drops Liberty League pair to Union

Posted 4/22/18

The St. Lawrence University baseball team dropped a close game to Liberty League-leading Union, 2-1, in the first game of a doubleheader at Shuttleworth Park in Amsterdam, New York on Saturday …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Saints baseball drops Liberty League pair to Union

Posted

The St. Lawrence University baseball team dropped a close game to Liberty League-leading Union, 2-1, in the first game of a doubleheader at Shuttleworth Park in Amsterdam, New York on Saturday afternoon, before falling 18-4 in the second to give the Dutchmen the sweep.

First-year James Cronin led the Saints with a pair of hits in both games, finishing a combined 4-for-7 at the plate with an RBI. Taylor Digilio went 2-for-3 in the first game, while Evan O'Keeffe added a 2-for-3 performance of his own in the nightcap with two RBI.

Game 1 – Union 2, St. Lawrence 1

James Cronin drove in the Saints' lone run in the opening game of the series with an RBI single to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning, which at the time tied the game at 1-1, as Evan O'Keeffe came in to score.

Union, however, regained a 2-1 lead with an unearned run in the top of the fifth on an error at second base by the Saints.

Starter Alex Black went the distance on the mound in the loss, giving up just two runs on six hits to the top-ranked team in the Liberty League, with nine strikeouts. Union's Jake Vesling also went 7.0 innings, allowing one run on six hits with seven strikeouts of his own.

Both teams finished with six hits apiece, with Cronin and Taylor Digilio leading St. Lawrence with 2-for-3 afternoons at the plate.

Game 2 – Union 18, St. Lawrence 4

The Saints opened up a 3-0 lead to start the second game, with a two-RBI single from O'Keeffe in the first inning and an RBI triple from Tyler Guido in the bottom of the second.

The Dutchmen started to chip away at the lead in the top of the third, cutting the deficit to 3-1 and then scored four runs on four hits in the top of the fourth to take the lead for good at 5-3.

Union scored 15 unanswered runs before the Saints added their fourth in the bottom of the seventh, as sophomore Michael Cubello scored on an error by the Union first baseman.

Isaac Lewis, Brendon Frank and Evan Reichel also scored runs for St. Lawrence in game two.

Union finished with a 22 hits to the Saints' 10.

Starter Caleb Clarke threw 4.0 innings and allowed nine runs on nine hits with three strikeouts. The Saints used five pitchers in relief.

For Union, Ryan Kuchar went 6.0 innings in the win and allowed three runs on seven hits with six strikeouts.

Records – St. Lawrence (2-18, 1-10 LL), Union (20-5, 11-3 LL)

Up Next – The teams will return to Shuttleworth Park for the final two games of their four-game series on Sunday starting at 12 p.m.