TROY, N.Y. - Freshman Matt Chotiner hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to cap a five-run comeback for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team, which went on to defeat Union College 7-5 in a Liberty League contest. The Engineers improve to 12-8-1 overall and 3-3 in the conference, while the Dutchmen drop to 7-7 and 1-2.

After falling behind 5-0 in the fifth inning, RPI got three in the fifth and one in the seventh to make it a 5-4 deficit. The eighth inning began with pinch hitter Phillip Li drawing a walk and moving to second base on a wild pitch. Chotiner, an infielder who initially intended to lay down a sacrifice bunt, drove the ball over the right field fence for a 6-5 lead. The home run was the first of his career.

The Engineers added an insurance run when Cole Paquin singled and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Robbie Reddington. Aidan Hicks moved Paquin to third on a groundout to first base and George Rainer plated the run with a single to left field. 

The Dutchmen did not quit as they loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth inning. Ryan Cowles, who batted leadoff for Union, singled to shortstop, Cooper Ames reached on a catcher's interference, and Kobe Mentzer singled to left. Rensselaer reliever Cameron Heuer, who entered the game in the seventh inning, struck out the next batter, Jono Santos, looking for the final out.

Santos, the designated hitter, helped the visitors jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning with a home run after Mentzer knocked in Cowles with a sacrifice fly. A Keaveny dinger down the right field line made it 4-0 and Mentzer came around to score following a pair of errors on a pickoff attempt at first base.

The highlight of the three-run fifth inning for the Engineers was a two-run single by Julian Scarpa after drew three walks to load the bases. Scarpa picked up the RPI in the seventh inning when he legged out a single to second base. 

The designated hitter, Scarpa was 3 for 4 with three RBI to lead the offense. Five others had one hit apiece with Chotiner's bringing in two. Heuer earned the win by allowing just two hits with five strikeouts in 2.2 innings.

Jack Klein took the loss for Union, which got three hits and a run from Cowles and two hits, a run, and two runs batted in from Santos. Keaveny went 3 for 4 with a run and an RBI.