Union opened its conference season Thursday night on the road and in stellar fashion, defeating rival James Kenan 15-4.

“It was a good game,” said head coach Josh Rackley. “We were solid at the plate; we really did hit well. Our defense played like I knew they could and we got some nice pitching from Ryan (Hall). All around I thought we did a good job. There are still some things we’ve got to clean up, but it’s early and I think we’re off to a pretty good start.”

The teams battled it out in the 1st inning, with the score knotted at 2 each, and neither team able to get a run in the second.

Then Union’s bats got hot, and the Spartans brought in 6 runs in the 3rd while holding James Kenan scoreless to take the lead 8-2.

Neither team could bring in a runner in the 4th, then they both scored a run each in the 5th to make it 9-3 Union heading into the 6th.

Union fired it up again, scoring 6 more runs to make it 15-3 heading into the bottom of the 6th.

Kenan managed to put 1 more on the board, but it was a Spartan victory after 6.

Hall got the win, tossing 4 innings and striking out 10. Zack Hopkins and Justin Kornegay also took the hill, with Kornegay, who pitched for 1 1/3 innings striking out 2.

At bat, Hall was 4-5 with 4 RBIs; Hagan Thornton, 2-3 with 1 RBI; Cameron Spearman, 1-2 with 1 RBI; Alfredo Garcia, 1-3 with 1 RBI; Bryson Worley, 1-3; Dustin Alphin, 1-4 with 1 RBI; and Justin Kornegay, 1-5 with 1 RBI.

Union moves to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play. They host Pender next Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the second conference game of the season.