LIVINGSTON – West Alabama designated hitter Josh Podoris homered in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat Gulf South Conference opponent Union 3-2 at Tartt Field on Sunday. For Podoris, it was his first homerun of the season.

“I thought are pitching was very good in critical situations today,” said UWA head coach Gary Rundles. “We got our hits but didn’t produce many runs off of them, but the hit by Josh Podoris was obviously very big for us.”

West Alabama gets its first series sweep of the season to improve to 7-11 on the season and pickup a 3-0 start in conference play.

UWA pitcher Brett Ivey entered into the eighth inning to pick up his first win of the season and improve to 1-3. The Tiger’s closer,

Jeremy White entered in the ninth inning and did not allow a hit to pick up his third save this season.

Union’s pitcher Trae Bain entered the game in the seventh inning and gave up the winning homerun to Podoris to pick up his first loss.

Along with Podoris, DJ Turo and Jack Cockrum also picked up runs for the Tigers. Matthew Magee finished with two hits and a RBI on three trips to the plate. Joel Murphy tallied two hits and a RBI in four at bats.

Union’s Pierson Waring and Cole McAdams recorded the only runs for the Bulldogs, while Jim Martin led with three hits.

“Anytime you can start off with three wins in the conference it is huge,” said Rundles. “This should be a momentum booster for us. I think our guys are starting to think differently about themselves than they did in the first 15 ballgames.”

Both teams will now return to non-conference action. West Alabama will travel to Selma University on Wednesday, March 6. Union will return home to host Trevecca Nazarene University on Tuesday, March 5.