GREENVILLE, Pa. - The Thiel College baseball team registered 13 hits, slugging their way past the Mount Union College Purple Raiders 11-6 Sunday at Tomcat Park.

The win marked the third in a row for the Tomcats, who improved to 16-10 for the year, while the loss dropped the Purple Raiders' record to 12-11.


Nick Schiavoni (Boiling Spring, Pa./Trinity) hit 3-for-3 with a double and three runs scored and Jarod Nanna (Johnstown, Pa./Conemaugh) went 2-for-4 with a double and three runs driven in as the Thiel offense tallied its 13^th double-digit hit total this season.

In addition to Schiavoni and Nanna, freshman first baseman Trent Smith (Franklin, Pa./Franklin) and senior left fielder Nick Rossmiller (Butler, Pa./Butler) also drove in a pair of runners, with Smith registering his third multi-hit game in his last four games. In all, nine Tomcats recorded hits in the win.

Thiel exploded for six runs in the fifth inning to take a commanding lead, 9-3. Senior second baseman Eric King (Butler, Pa./Butler) led off with a double before Schiavoni walked. A fly out from senior left fielder Eric Steininger (West Leechburg, Pa./Leechburg) allowed Schiavoni to tag and advance to third, putting runners on the corners. Facing a 2-0 count, the Tomcats and Nanna caught two-out lightning, as he doubled off the wall in left center, driving in two runs when Schiavoni and King scored. Rossmiller followed with a single to left field that scored Nanna and, after Smith singled and sophomore third baseman Trent Mosley (South Euclid, Ohio/Brush) walked, the bases were full of Tomcats. Sophomore shortstop Cody Trinch (Franklin, Pa./Franklin) laced the 1-1 pitch into the gap in center for a two-run single that made it 8-3. Trinch then stole second, and Mosley advanced home on the throw down to second to give Thiel a 9-3 lead.

After Mount Union scored a fourth run on two hits in the eighth, the Tomcats added an insurance run in the home half of the inning on a Steininger sacrifice fly to center that allowed senior pinch-hitter Ryan Hart (Franklin, Pa./Franklin) to tag and score.

Mount Union threatened in the ninth, but managed just two runs before the 27th Purple Raider was called out.

Senior reliever Mike Pica (Monessen, Pa./Monessen) earned his first collegiate win on the hill after allowing three runs on six hits with a strikeout in four innings of relief.

Sophomore right-hander Ryker Locke took the loss in relief for Mount Union and went one and two third innings, allowing five earned runs on six hits with a walk.

Mount Union produced the first run of the ballgame in the top of the first to go up 1-0. With no outs and two on base, Anthony Morino singled to left field to score Connor Mathias.

Thiel mounted a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth when Nanna, Mosley and Smith drove in runs.
 
Mount Union climbed back to tie the score at 3-3 with two runs in the top of the fifth.
 
The Tomcats regained the lead at 9-3 in the bottom of the fifth when Thiel plated six runs in the frame.
 
The Tomcats will be back in action Monday when they take on the Bethany College Bison at Tomcat Park. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.