JACKSON, Tenn. – The Union University baseball team bested local NAIA rival Freed-Hardeman 9-8 with a 10th-inning
Caleb Davis walk-off single on Wednesday night at Fesmire Field.
Alec Hardy was hit by a pitch to begin the bottom of the 10th inning, advanced on a
Canyon Pace sacrifice and a wild pitch, and scored on Davis's hit down the left field line.
Union improved to 6-8 on the season, 3-1 at home, and 5-4 in non-conference action. In a game that mirrored Freed's 11th-inning walk-off home run in the teams' 2024 meeting, the Lions fell to 12-7.
Minutes before his game-clinching knock, Davis allowed FHU's Austin Johnson to reach second base on a dropped pop fly. Johnson attained third with one out but would never make it home, thanks to Union reliever
Noah Toney, who closed the door with three straight outs after the error and a walk.
Union led the back-and-forth contest 5-2 after three innings before conceding the lead and falling behind 7-5 after four–a scoreline that held until the Bulldogs scored three in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by
Carson Chavies and
Alec Hardy, a
Colby Davis walk and stolen base, and a
Caleb Davis pinch-hit single.
A double and two wild pitches in the eighth brought the Lions level.
Dyllon Barrett (three walks, hit batsman) and Hardy (two hits, two hit batsmen) reached base four times.
Colby Davis reached on three occasions with two walks and a hit.
Matthew Autry and Hardy extended their on-base streaks to seven games apiece. Chavies logged his fifth multi-hit game of the season.
Bulldog starter
Lane Evans exited the game after two innings and a pair of FHU tallies, and relievers
Eli Jackson,
Carter Daniel,
Ethan Orwig, and Toney combined for eight innings of two-hit, one-earned run baseball. Daniel struck out four in his 3.1 hitless frames.
Union pitching fanned 13 Lions in all, a season-high and the most since the Bulldogs struck out the same total against West Liberty on February 12, 2022.
The Lions were held to just four hits–a season-low for the Mid-South Conference squad–but were aided by seven walks, three HBP, and six Union errors.
Wednesday's action lasted 3:17.
The Bulldogs will host Mississippi College (7-7, 3-3) on Friday (6:00 p.m.) and Saturday (1:00 p.m. doubleheader) at Fesmire Field.
-UNION-
