Mount Union Sweeps Wilmington to Lock Up OAC Tourney Spot

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ALLIANCE, Ohio -- Mount Union's baseball team belted out a combined 31 runs on 30 hits in 13-1 and 18-8 wins over Wilmington in an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader Sunday at 23rd Street Field in Alliance.

The Purple Raiders move to 26-10 overall and at 12-4 in the OAC are assured to be no worse than the No. 2 seed in the OAC Tournament on May 10-12. No. 1 ranked Marietta must win at least one game next Friday at Wilmington to clinch the regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the OAC Tournament.

At the front of the Mount Union offensive barrage was the sophomore Connor Mathis (Akron/Firestone). The OAC's leading hitter went 4-for-7 on the day and drove in seven runs and now is hitting .468 with 59 hits and 51 RBI on the season.

In game one, Mathis drove in five runs on two hits while fellow sophomore Zach Carlino (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) knocked in three runs as Mount Union ran out to a 5-0 lead in the first two innings on its way to a 13-1 win.

Carlino also allowed only three hits over the first six innings on the mound to win his fourth consecutive conference start and move to 5-1 on the season.

Eight walks and four errors doomed the Quakers and Jake Vinkovich took the loss in the opener.

Wilmington (7-25, 3-13 OAC) scored single runs in the first and third innings of game two to take a 2-0 lead and led 3-2 in the fifth but Mount Union took advantage of Quaker mistakes in the third and fifth innings to blow the game open.

In the third inning, a two-out error brought one run home and then Mathis tied the game with an RBI single, then in the fifth inning two errors sparked a 10-run innning -- all the runs unearned -- that gave Mount Union a commanding 12-3 lead.

Mathis finished with two RBI while freshman Anthony Morino (Strongsville/Strongsville) drove in three runs on three hits and sophomore Jimmy Dobran (Poland/Poland Seminary) had three RBI on a pair of hits as a total of eight different Raiders drove in at least a run.

Sophomore pitcher Matt Murzynski (Mentor/Lake Catholic) went six innings to tie the conference lead with eight wins on the season.

Hunter Justus allowed 11 runs all of them unearned over 4.2 innings to take the loss for Wilmington.

Mount Union plays its final non-conference games of the season Wednesday with a doubleheader at Washington & Jefferson (Pa.). First pitch is at 4 pm and both games will be broadcast on the Internet at athletics.mountunion.edu

Mount Union 13, Wilmington 1 (Apr 29, 2012 at Alliance, Ohio) (Game 1)
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Wilmington.......... 001 000 0 - 1 4 4 (7-24, 3-12 OAC)
Mount Union......... 145 102 X - 13 12 1 (25-10, 11-4 OAC)
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Pitchers: Wilmington - Jake Vinkovich; Gunner Calhoun(3); Jake Hofer(3) and Brett McEvoy.
Mount Union - Zach Carlino; Sam Clarke(7) and C.J. Stotler.
Win-Zach Carlino(5-1) Loss-Jake Vinkovich(1-5) T-1:50 A-143
Weather: 57 F Partly Cloudy

Mount Union 18, Wilmington 8 (Apr 29, 2012 at Alliance, Ohio) (Game 2)
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Wilmington.......... 101 01 1 040 - 8 15 4 (7-25, 3-13 OAC)
Mount Union......... 002 0(10)3 12X - 18 18 3 (26-10, 12-4 OAC)
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Pitchers: Wilmington - Hunter Justus; Brandon Compton(5); Troy Wagner(6); Bruce Dunlap(7);
Tommy Chamberlain(8) and Brett McEvoy. Mount Union - Matt Murzynski; Mike Horning(7);
Cory Douglass(8); Josh Pryor(8) and Steve Mitch.
Win-Matt Murzynski(8-1) Loss-Hunter Justus(2-6) T-2:45 A-134
Weather: 61 F Sunny