WILMINGTON, Ohio -- Mount Union's baseball team opened Ohio Athletic Conference play with 6-3 and 7-5 wins Saturday at Wilmington.

In the opener, Beau Smith (Fredrick, Md./Fredrick) had a season-high seven strikeouts, tossed his second complete game and moved to 3-1 on the season for the Raiders.

Mount Union got things going early at the plate as Lee Grosscup (North Canton/Green) opened the game with a double before the Raiders drew four consecutive walks that scored a run, a sacrifice fly by Matt Tracy (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) and a Quaker throwing error plated four first inning runs.

Wilmington pushed two runs across in the fourth but Mount Union got those back in the sixth as Trent Vallinger (Poland/Poland Seminary) led off the frame with a triple and scored on a pinch hit RBI single from Jake DeLuca (Akron/Green).  DeLuca then stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error by the cather then came around and scored on a sacrifice fly by Grosscup to put the Raiders up 6-2.

The Quakers attempted a comeback in the bottom of the sixth as they scored a run and brought the tying run to the plate before Smith posted two straight strikeouts then sit Wilmington down in order in the seventh to close out the win.

Mount Union also jumped out to a 4-0 lead in game two but this time with two runs in the first, courtsey of three Wilmington errors, and two more in the second as catcher C.J. Stotler (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) hit his first homer of the season.

The Quakers plated a run in the second before the Raiders extended the lead to 6-1 in the fourth on another two-run home run this time from Grosscup.

Wilmington got back into the game with a three-run fifth and Mount Union got a big insurance run as Vallinger scored on a wild pitch in the eighth. 

The Quakers got a run in ninth and had a runner on base when the game ended with the 7-5 final.

Stotler finished with three hits while Vallinger and Jimmy Dobran (Poland/Poland Seminary) had two each to lead the Raiders' offense.

Matt Lambert (Massillon/Massillon Washington) went five innings on the mound to pick up his second win of the season and Matt Murzynski (Mentor/Lake Catholic) went the final four innings and picked up his first career save.

Mount Union is back in action tomorrow (Sunday, Apr. 3) at Thiel College in Greenville, Pa.  First pitch is at 1 pm and a LIVE AUDIO broadcast and LIVE STATS of the game will be available at http://athletics.mountunion.edu  

Mount Union 6, Wilmington 3 (Apr 02, 2011 at Wilmington, Ohio) (Game 1)
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Mount Union......... 400 002 0 -  6  7  0      (5-9, 1-0)
Wilmington.......... 000 201 0 -  3  7  3      (5-9, 1-0)
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Pitchers: Mount Union - Beau Smith and C.J. Stotler. Wilmington - Ramsey; Wurtz(2); Justus(7) and Justus; McEvoy.
Win-Beau Smith(3-1)  Loss-Ramsey(1-2)  T-1:56  A-48

Mount Union 7, Wilmington 5 (Apr 02, 2011 at Wilmington, Ohio) (Game 2)
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Mount Union......... 220 200 010  -  7 11  5      (6-9, 2-0)
Wilmington.......... 010 030 001  -  5 11  4      (5-10, 0-2)
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Pitchers: Mount Union - Matt Lambert; Matt Murzynski(6) and C.J. Stotler; Ty Wood. Wilmington -
Boyd; Justus(8); Vinkovich(8) and Justus; McEvoy.
Win-Matt Lambert(2-1)  Save-Matt Murzynski(1)  Loss-Boyd(0-3)  T-2:23  A-32
HR MTU - Lee Grosscup (1); C.J. Stotler (1).