ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Mount Union baseball team swept the Wilmington Fightin' Quakers in a Saturday doubleheader at Rafeld-Rogers Field, winning game one 9-2 and game two 12-2 in seven innings.
The Purple Raiders have now won nine games in a row and run their record to 22-6 overall and 20-6 in the OAC, while Wilmington falls to 7-21 overall and 6-18 in the OAC.
In game one, sophomore Chase Angotti (Monongahela, Pa. / Ringgold) got the scoring started in the bottom of the second with an RBI single to left that brought home Walker Marlowe (Berlin Center / Western Reserve) to put the Raiders on the board first.
Wilmington tied it at 1-1 in the third, but Mount Union extended their lead in the fifth as Eric Schilling (Stow / Stow-Munroe Falls) singled home Zach Mazza (Flint, Mich. / Powers Catholic) to make it 2-1. Trey Weaver (Frankling, Pa. / Franklin Area) then roped a double to left to bring home Schilling. Lou Cardona (Boardman) added insurance in the sixth with a home run to left field, his second of the season, and that made it 4-1 Raiders.
Cardona would go yard again with a two-run home run in the next inning as Mount Union broke out for three runs to extend the lead to 9-1.
Thomas Gallant (Pataskala / Watkins Memorial) got the start for Mount Union and went 6.1 innings, surrendering four hits, one run, and one walk, while striking out seven to pick up his fifth win of the season.
In game two, Wilmington struck first this time around with the long ball as Owen Baumann sent one over the wall in center in the top of the third.
But the lead would be short lived when Joey Nave (Toronto / Edison) went yard for his first home run of the season in the bottom of the third to put the Raiders on top 2-1. That same inning, Schilling tripled home Nate Duliba (Berea / Berea-Midpark) to make it 3-1 Mount Union.
Nave's big day at the plate continued in the bottom of the fourth when he brought home Marlowe on an RBI triple to left center to extend the lead to 4-1.
The rest of the game's scoring came in the bottom of the fifth as Mount Union batted around to strike for eight runs, including a Duliba RBI double, a Weaver RBI triple, and a Mazza two-run inside-the-park home run to right center that brought the score to 12-2.
Senior Carson Davis (Louisville) got the start and threw six complete innings, giving up two runs on eight hits, while striking out eight. Davis earned his team high seventh win. Junior Nolan Hassel (North Royalton / North Royalton) came on in the top of the seventh to close the ball game out.
The Raiders complete the four-game set heading down to Wilmington for two games Sunday starting at 1 p.m. at Tewksbury-Delaney Field.