*UPDATE* At the completion of play on Friday evening, Skidmore has clinched first place in Liberty League East Division.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -
Ameer Hasan pitched a complete game on 97 pitches to lead the Skidmore College baseball team to a 2-1 victory over visiting Union in the first of three this weekend against the Dutchmen.
With the win, Skidmore is 21-13, 10-4 in the Liberty League, and 8-2 in the Liberty League East. The Thoroughbreds will host a Liberty League Crossover Series next weekend against an opponent to be determined. The Dutchmen are 13-18, 4-10, and 2-8 and have been eliminated from postseason contention.
- With the tying tun at third and two outs in the ninth, Hasan induced a ground out to second basemen Anthony Petersen to complete the masterpiece. He scattered nine hits and his only blemish was a solo homer in the third. Hasan struck two and issued just one walk.
- Hasan finished with 10 pitches or less in four different innings, including five-pitch innings in both the second and eighth. He threw 73 percent of his 97 pitches for strikes.
- For Union, Chris Suter also went the distance for an eight-inning complete game. He surrendered two runs, one earned, on five hits with three strikeouts and one walk. He needed 82 pitches aided by three double plays.
- After Hasan retired the first seven Union hitters on just 16 pitches, Jack Milone gave the Dutchmen a 1-0 lead with a solo homer over the fence in left field with one out in the third.
- Suter faced the minimum through the first three innings thanks to ground-ball double plays in both the first and third innings.
- Skidmore tied it in the fourth. Danny Melillo reached on a throwing error to lead off the inning and stole second before sliding to third when Jackson Hornung hit a deep fly ball to center field. Zachary Leiderman brought in the run with a sacrifice fly to right.
- Union threatened in the fourth, but Hasan got out of the jam and stranded the bases loaded after turning a popped-up sacrifice attempt into a double play. Hasan got out of trouble again in the fifth with a pair of runners on when he picked off the runner at first base.
- The Thoroughbreds grabbed the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Petersen led off with a double to the fence in right-center field and scored two batters later on a Jaden Torrado single through the drawn-in infield.
- Skidmore put just one baserunner on, a Peterson single in the seventh, over the final three innings. He was erased by a 5-4-3 double play.
- NEXT UP: The teams will complete the series on Sunday with a doubleheader at Shuttleworth Park in Amsterdam beginning at 12 p.m.