SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - The Union College baseball team hosted Bard College today in the second half of a four-game series. The Union offense exploded as they scored 27 runs on 29 hits in 16 innings of play, as the Dutchmen cruised to 10-4 and 17-2 victories on Sunday afternoon at Shuttleworth Park.
 
With the two wins and Ithaca College's two losses to the University of Rochester today, Union (11-7, 9-5 Liberty League) jumps all the way into second place in the conference and as a result will host Ithaca in the Liberty League Tournament semifinals on Wednesday at Shuttleworth Park. Game time will be announced on Monday.
 
First year Sebastian Pike proved an elusive out for the Bard defense. Pike was 5-for-5 today and hit for the cycle over the course of two games, bringing his average to .364 on the year. Senior Colin Kelly completed a phenomenal regular season today as he blasted three home runs, two in the first game, and one in the second. Kelly went 6-for-7 with three homers, a triple, seven runs batted in and six runs scored, elevating his batting average to .419 for the year.
 
The Union pitching staff used six different pitchers today, each of whom limited the Bard offense with 13 total strikeouts and no walks. Sophomore Ben Mlavsky (3-0) won the first game, and senior Charlie Hoover (1-0) got credit for the second game win in his last regular season game for Union.
 
Game 1: Union 10, Bard 4
 
Union's offense looked very explosive as it scored 10 runs on 15 hits in the game. A third of Union's hits were extra-base hits, all of which came from two players. Kelly hit his eighth and ninth home runs of the year and a triple in 3-for-4 effort. He also scored twice and drove in three runners. Pike also impressed as he hit his first career home run along with a double and a single, while senior lead-off hitter Jack Koch was 2-for-4 with an RBI. 
 
Union's pitching staff put together another strong outing on the bump, limiting the Raptors to just three hits and four runs. Mlavsky picked up a win to remain undefeated on the season, giving up four runs (two earned), while striking out three in 4.2 innings of work. Fellow sophomore Matt Beazoglou struck out two and finished the game without allowing a baserunner. 
 
To start the bottom of the second inning Union sent five consecutive batters to the base paths via base hits. Sophomore Dan Choate singled to left, driving in senior Kevin Chaimowitz to start the scoring. Choate would eventually come in to score as well as seniors Chris O'Brien and Matt Toy to give Union a 4-0 lead after two innings.
 
Kelly homered in consecutive innings and senior Joey Palko added an RBI single to put Union on top 8-0 after four innings, but Bard showed life in the top of the fifth by stringing together three hits to produce four runs. However, Beazoglou entered to get the final out of the inning and then proceeded to put out each of the last six batters of the game in order as well. Union tacked on their final two runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth with a Pike solo home run and a Koch RBI single to score first-year Noah Schott.
 
Game 2: Union 17, Bard 2
 
Union won Game 2 in dominating fashion, putting themselves ahead 13-0 after just two innings. Twenty Dutchmen saw action in this one, and four Union pitchers took the mound. Union had 14 hits and walked 9 times in eight innings of at-bats. 
 
Offensively, Koch and Kelly led the way with three hits apiece. Kelly sent his third ball of the day over the Shuttleworth fence and senior Chris Symington also homered. Chaimowitz, Pike and senior Elias Kuhns contributed multi-hit games for the Dutchmen as well. 
 
The offensive story of the game can mostly be summed up in the first couple innings. In the bottom of the first Union only had two hits, but those two were a three-run homer by Kelly and a grand slam by Symington, the senior's first career long ball.
           
In the second inning, Union scored six more runs on six hits. Union used an impressive two-out rally to do most of the damage, as six straight Union batters reached base before Bard could get the third out.
 
For most of the rest of the game, Hoover dominated the Bard hitters in five innings of work after coming in to replace junior Chris Murdock, allowing one run on three hits.
 
Check UnionAthletics.com this week for more information and a full preview of the upcoming Liberty League Tournament.