Box Score
JACKSON, Tenn. --- The Bulldog bats rattled 2023 GSC Pitcher of the Year Dalton Neuschwander on Friday night, and Union claimed a 9-7 game one victory over #25 West Florida (22-13, 13-6) in Pensacola.

Three hits each by Will Allen Smith, Grant Ross, and Dyllon Barrett and a ninth-inning Carson Chavies home run led Union's (13-19, 7-12) 14-hit day.

The game concluded in classic nail-biting fashion: West Florida loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth, down two, and brought Darrien McDowell, one of the league's most redoubtable sluggers, to the plate. After an eight-pitch battle, Ryan Evans got the better of McDowell with a strikeout to seal the win.

The Bulldogs handed Neuschwander, who entered the game with a 2.54 ERA, his worst appearance of the season: eight runs, five earned, on 12 hits in 5.1 innings of work. The reigning conference Pitcher of the Week was shelled immediately upon entry, allowing five to hit and three to score in the Union half of the first.

Neither starter could find an early groove, and Union maintained a 5-4 lead after the second inning.

The Argos took a temporary 6-5 advantage in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run double, but three more Bulldog runs in the next half-inning chased Neuschwander from the game. His reliever, Chase Wilkerson, balked while facing his first batter to score Smith and hand the Bulldogs their eighth and winning run.

Ethan Orwig and Evans combined for 2.2 innings of scoreless relief behind starter Eli Snelson, who threw 122 pitches and allowed all seven UWF runs earned on 11 hits and six walks.

The multi-hit game is the 14th of the season for Ross, while Barrett got his first three-hit game as a Bulldog.

The win snaps a five-game Union skid dating back to March 19.

Fourteen hits is the team's third-highest total of the season, only behind 18 (vs. West Alabama on Feb. 17) and 17 (vs. Washburn on Feb. 9). Union didn't walk in a contest for the second time this season.

The series will conclude on Saturday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader.