For baseball fans who like to see a pitching duel, the first game of the doubleheader between Union and Freed-Hardeman would have been a good game to watch Saturday.

 

For those that prefer offense, they could have shown up later for the second game and probably would have gone home happy.

The two teams split the day as the Lions took the first game 2-1 behind Javier Gomez's complete-game performance that included one run earned on four hits and five strikeouts with only 75 pitches thrown.

Union took the second game 6-2 after the Bulldogs scored three in the first inning when Gomez started the second game as well.

Lions coach Patrick McCarthy said the decision to have Gomez start both games was not a planned move.

"Javier has been a good pitcher for us all season who will come in a finish a game for us and then start the next game," McCarthy said. "I thought we'd roll the dice with him starting the second game again to see if he could keep going a couple of more innings for us.

"It would be easy to go with the decisions that other coaches make all the time, but appearances like this are not new for Javier."

Freed got the scoring started in the second when Angel Nicolas hit a single to right field to bring in Zack Smith.

No one was able to score again until Union tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on a double to left field from Cody Willoughby that brought in Andrew Hansen.

"Gomez did a good job pitching against us in that first game, and we had a hard time getting things going with the wind and chill in the air that we were dealing with," said Union coach Brent Fronabarger. "But they were executing well and getting a lot of two-out hits."

Greg Allen broke the tie in the top of the seventh when he hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring Garrett Ammons home from third. Union was unable to match the run in the bottom of the game's final inning.

Union pitcher Carl Harken took the loss on the mound, but he had five strikeouts while allowing seven hits in the loss.

Union's offense got the second game started with a bang when Grant Luke drove Shaun Cozart and Hansen home with a two-RBI single. Luke then got home later in the inning when Judson Powers hit a double to left field to bring him in.

Powers was on track to record a cycle in the win after hitting a triple in the third, but he was unable to get a homer or single in the remainder of the game.

"I hit it pretty hard, and I was just trying to get around as fast as I could," Powers said about the triple. "But I'm just glad we were able to get this win and maybe take some momentum into the last two weekends of the season.

"We've got some important series' coming up in the conference, and they could affect where we finish in the TranSouth."

Freed is currently second in the TranSouth Conference with an overall record of 27-11 and 11-6 in conference. Union is in fifth place at 19-11-1 and 8-6-1.

-Brandon Shields, 425-9751