CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The Union University baseball team dropped two games of a three-game set at Lee University on Friday and Saturday before salvaging the final contest 3-2 thanks to an Alec Hardy two-run blast in the sixth inning.
 
The Bulldogs fell to 8-13 overall, 3-8 in conference action, and 4-9 on the road. Lee, now 11-3 at home, is 11-11 overall and 5-7 in the league.
 
Hardy extended his on-base streak to 13, while Carson Chavies has recorded a hit in eight straight. Chavies finished the weekend 4-8 with two doubles and a walk while reaching three times after getting plunked.
 
Union will next face Lane College at Fesmire Field on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.
 
Game 1: Lee 5, Union 0
 
Flame Cooper Casteel threw a complete game shutout in game one while conceding nine hits, including two-hit games by Chavies, Jake Keyl, and Canyon Pace.
 
Lee scored two runs in the second frame, another in the fourth, and two more in the seventh. Union was defeated for the first time while notching eight or more hits.
 
Game 2: Lee 6, Union 5
 
Lee scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead over Union, which had plated five on just three hits in the third inning.
 
Eli Snelson allowed two earned runs on six hits and four walks in his 7.1 innings of work. Union committed four errors; all led to Lee runs.
 
Chavies and Keyl each reached base three times in game two.
 
Game 3: Union 3, Lee 2
 
Trailing 2-1 entering the sixth inning of the seven-inning game three, Union needed a big hit and found it in Alec Hardy's left-field blast. The home run scored Colby Davis, and Union's late advantage proved to be final.
 
Lane Evans three 5.2 innings of three-hit, one-run baseball in relief of Carter Daniel.
 
Union took a first-inning lead when Hardy reached on a fielder's choice that scored Caleb Davis. Lee tied the game in the bottom half of the inning and went ahead with another tally in the fourth.
 
The Bulldogs claimed victory for the second time this season while scoring fewer than six runs (2-11).
 
-UNION-