The Doghouse: Baseball and Ultimate in the Playoffs

Doghouse Recap, May 8, 2017

May 8, 2017 Trevor James Fox Sports

Welcome to The Doghouse, a weekly column recapping Union University sports action from the weekend.

This weekend, the Union Jaxx were eliminated from the postseason, while baseball participated in the conference tournament.

Ultimate

Ultimate ended their season with a 5-1 weekend, taking second at the DIII Southeast Regional Tournament.

“I was getting pretty emotional and anxious the week leading up to it,” said Union Jaxx captain Garrett Wilson, senior. “This was the culmination of my collegiate ultimate career, and I wanted to set the team up to succeed as much as I could.”
The pool play tournament consisted of seven teams seeded based on their conference performances. On Saturday, No. 6 Union went 4-0, starting with a win over No. 5 Samford 12-7.

Then, Union defeated the defending National Champions, No. 2 Georgia College 13-10, and Wilson said it “was one of the most memorable and proudest moments I’ve ever had of being on the Jaxx.”

“I believe the Jaxx played some of the best ultimate we have ever played in that game,” Wilson said. “I saw great defensive intensity which is something we have been trying to work on all year, and was so pumped to watch some guys on the team rise up and outplay a team that is of very high caliber.”
The Jaxx finished the day with wins over No. 3 Berry 13-7 and No. 4 North Georgia 13-3.
“Going into Sunday, all we wanted to do was to take care of the disc and focus on playing our game,” Wilson said.
On Sunday, the Jaxx opened with a win over No. 7 Embry-Riddle 13-4.

The final game was against No. 1 Alabama-Huntsville, who were on a 12 game winning streak. The winner would advance to nationals.

“Traditionally, UAH tends to get us out of our comfort zones by throwing different defenses on us or zones to take away our ability to run certain plays,” Wilson said. “We wanted to take control of the game and run it on our terms, not theirs.”
Union opened with a 2-1 lead, but then UAH scored three straight to go ahead 4-2. The teams traded points until UAH took a 7-5 halftime lead. In the second half, the teams continued to trade scores, with UAH pushing their lead to 12-9. With the game going to 13 points, this was Union’s last stand. They gave it a fight, but fell short. The 13-9 final ended the season for the Jaxx.
“A hard fought last game lost after winning five games before that is not a bad way to go out at all. The game itself was a blast,” Wilson said. “It is always fun playing high level ultimate.”
UAH will represent the Southeast Region in the National Tournament May 22-23.
“UAH is a great team led by a great coach that definitely deserves the national bid that they earned,” Wilson said. “The game was intense on both sides of the disc.”

For their performances this weekend, and all season, Lance Dell was Union’s MVP and Levi Shaw was the team’s Rookie MVP. After announcing these accolades, the team gathered to reflect on their growth this year. The captains, Wilson and Stephen Neu, along with coaches Harrison Hayes and Dodgen Swanson, congratulated the players on their hard work, especially thanking Jesse Dahms for his dedication to the team since founding it in 2013.

“Our success does not stop here,” Wilson said. “Our team is wrought with incredible talent and athleticism, and, with the right leadership, can become one of the top team programs in the nation. The bond that the players have on this team with each other is special, and nothing can take that away. We have sweat, bled, cried, cheered, and come together in ways that are hard to describe.”

“We have a bond that is not going to be broken and friendships that are made on this team that will last a lifetime,” Wilson said. “There is no way I will forget the memories and the good times I’ve had with the team, nor will I forget the lessons learned or hard times that we’ve gone through together. I know for a fact that all seniors feel the same way that I do about this team and how special it is. Once a Jaxx always a Jaxx.”

Baseball

Union’s baseball team had two games in the Gulf South Conference Tournament this weekend, going 1-1.

In game one, No. 5 Union defeated No. 4 Valdosta State 9-5. In the first inning, Tyler Mauzy hit a solo homerun for the Bulldogs. In the second inning, Austin Orr hit an RBI sacrifice fly to score Dylan Moore. Valdosta State responded in the third with an RBI sacrifice fly from Chipper Andzel to score Kendall Herron. Union had a four-run fifth, scoring on five hits, including a three-run homer from Hayden Lewis and a solo shot from Moore. Valdosta came within one run in the seventh, scoring four runs on two singles, a three-run homer from Clint Carr, and a wild pitch. In the final two innings, the Bulldogs added three runs on two hits, one throwing error, two walks, and one hit batter.

Starter JR Miller earned the win, pitching 6.1 innings and allowing five runs on four hits with five strikeouts. In relief, Austin Kitterman pitched 1.2 no-hit innings, and Marty Coursey pitched one shutout inning.

In their second pool play game, the Bulldogs fell to No. 1 Delta State 6-1. The Statesmen dominated their majority of play, starting with a two-run homer from Josh Russell in the second. In the sixth, Delta State added three runs on three hits. Both teams scored in the seventh, with Delta State’s Zack Shannon and Union’s Moore each hitting an RBI single.

Teddy Christie started, taking the loss after 5.2 innings of work. Christie allowed five runs on seven hits. Kitterman pitched 3.1 innings of relief, allowing one run on one hit.

The Bulldogs will play No. 8 Alabama-Huntsville in their last pool play game on Monday. Delta State has already won the pool, so the game Monday will be the last one of the tournament for Union.

The NCAA Regional Tournament begins May 18.