Game 1 | Game 2

JACKSON, Tenn. – The 11^th ranked University of West Florida Baseball Team received a clinic from their offense while they got eight dominant innings from their relievers in a double-header sweep at Union, winning 15-6 and 8-3, on Friday at Fesmire Field.
 
The victories push the Argos to 22-5 and 21-5 in the Gulf South Conference while Union drops to 9-17 on the season. With the victory, West Florida picks up their seventh-straight series win and their 10^th straight victory overall.
 
"We had a good day putting pressure on their defense to force mistakes", UWF Head Coach Mike Jeffcoat said.  "Overall the pitching was great as (Josh) Pahlad came out of the bullpen in the first game and did a nice job to pick up (Evan) Floyd.  The (Tyler) Dowdy and (Sean) Means combination was very good as well."

Floyd, Dowdy, Pahlad and Means combined for 22 strikeouts on the afternoon while the four hurlers only issued five walks.
 
"This team is executing the small game well and that has been the key to our offense this season."
 
Cullan O'Shea led all Argos with five hits on the afternoon while Dylan Menhennett extended his hitting streak to 16 games with his four hits between the two contests, including three in game one. Menhennett paced all Argonauts with four RBI's on the day. Adam Imwalle and Matt Estrada finished with RBI's apiece.  O'Shea also scored six runs in the double-header.
 
The two teams will be back in action as they finish the series with a single-game tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Fesmire Field as the Argos look to sweep their third straight series.
 
"We need to come out tomorrow with the same intent and effort", Coach Jeffcoat continued. 
 
Game 1: UWF got on the board quickly in the opener of the double-header thanks to a Bulldog error as Hancock scored all the way from first after an errant throw by the UU third baseman on a ground ball by Menhennett to make it 1-0 UWF.
 
West Florida would tack on two more in the runs in the top of the second as Dunnam and Roberts opened the inning with back-to-back walks.  Dunnam would score in the next-at bat on another errant throw by the Union third baseman, while Roberts would come home on a passed ball on the next batter.
 
UU's Trey Frierson would put the home team on the board in the bottom of the frame, with the Bulldogs scoring again in the third inning on a single by Jake Baker off of Argo starter Evan Floyd, making it 3-2.
 
Floyd had his shortest outing of the 2021 season on Friday afternoon, as the right-hander only threw four innings, while giving up two runs on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
 
The Argonaut offense would pick up their starter in the next offense as Menhennett homered to left field in the next half inning, bringing home O'Shea who singled earlier in the inning.  Floyd would be replaced in the fifth by reliever, Josh Pahlad, who ended up going the rest of the five innings for UWF.
 
In his longest outing of the season, the redshirt junior from Kissimmee, Florida, allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits while walking and fanning seven batters to earn the victory.  With the Argos clinging to a 5-4 lead in the top of the sixth, UWF would add five runs in the frame to put distance between the two teams.
 
With the first two batters of the inning reaching on an error and fielder's choice, Schad would ground out to second base to bring home Dunnam from third to make it 6-4.  After another error by UU that allowed True Fontenot to reach second and Schad to third, Estrada came through with a two RBI-single through the right side, making it 8-4.  All eight runs were charged to Walker Adkisson who only got through 5.1 innings, allowing eight runs (five earned), on three hits with two walks and a strikeout to get the loss.
 
Estrada would later score on an RBI groundout from Miller Hancock while Menhennett would triple to right-center field, bringing home O'Shea who singled in the prior at-bat to make it 10-4.  West Florida would add to that mark with three more runs in the top of the seventh when True Fontenot had a two RBI single of his own to bring home Roberts and Dunnam while an Estrada single to left field scored Fontenot who had advanced to second on an error.  UU committed eight total errors in the contest.
 
Union would have two runs come across in the bottom inning to make it 13-6, but Pahlad would collect himself as he sat the Bulldogs down in order in the eighth, with two strikeouts.  The Argos would score their final two runs of the ballgame as O'Shea and Menhennett knocked back-to-back doubles to right-center and down the left-field line, making it 15-6 in the top of the ninth.
 
Despite allowing two baserunners to reach in the final frame, Pahlad would strikeout A'Darius Pugh swinging while getting Dorian Berry, to strike out looking, to end the contest.
 
Jake Baker led all Bulldogs with three hits while Pugh and Berry had two RBI's each.  Estrada paced the Argos with four hits, while Menhennett had four RBI's in the victory.  Estrada finished with three RBI's, with Schad and Fontenot adding two apiece.
 
It is the first time that the Argos have scored 15 runs in two straight games since they did so on March 20^th and 21^st of 2018 at Albany State.
 
Game 2: West Florida jumped on the board first again in game two as back-to-back singles by Imwalle and Dunnam put runners on scoring position with two outs.  Sam Clement, starting at catcher in game two, singled to right field to bring home Imwalle and put the Argos up 1-0.
 
Austin Zeitler got UU in the scoring column with a home run in the bottom of the second off UWF starter, Tyler Dowdy. After the home run by Zeitler, Dowdy would settle into the ball as the freshman retired 11 of the next 13 batters he faced into the fifth inning.  The right-hander struck out four batters in the four frames.
 
With the game tied at 1 in the top of the sixth, the Argo offense broke the contest open with a five-run inning.  Hancock led off the inning with a double down the left-field line before he advanced to third on an infield single by O'Shea.  In the next at-bat, Hancock scored on an error by the Bulldogs to make it 2-1. Three pitches later, Imwalle doubled to left-center, bringing home O'Shea and Menhennett who had reached on the error, putting the score at 4-1.
 
Imwalle would later score on a sacrifice bunt by Dunnam while Dunnam on an RBI single from Fontenot.  Five of the runs in the inning came off UU starter, Luke Williamson, who was charged with the loss.  The southpaw allowed five runs on six hits in five innings of work to drop to 1-5 on the season.
 
The Bulldogs would score two in the bottom of the frame to make it 6-3 with Zeitler again coming up with a big hit, this time a two-out double.  Zeitler knocked a two-out double down the left-field line to score Jake Baker with UU scoring their third run on a wild pitch.  After the frame, Dowdy exited the start but the right-hander was able to get the win after he went the six innings, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out a career-high six batters.
 
Dowdy moves to 3-1 with the victory.  O'Shea came through again in the seventh with a double to right-field to bring home Hancock with O'Shea scoring later in the inning on an RBI ground-out from Imwalle.
 
Redshirt freshman Sean Means pitched the last three innings for the Argonauts, recording his first career save as the right-hander allowed only one hit and one walk while fanning six batters, including all three batters in the eighth, to finish the game.

For the latest on the UWF Baseball Team, please visit GoArgos.com or follow the team on Twitter @UWF_Baseball.