Two of the hottest teams in the Ohio Athletic Conference play a key series when Mount Union travels to Marietta Tuesday at 4 pm at Don Schaly Stadium in Marietta, Ohio.

There will be LIVE AUDIO and LIVE STATS of both games.

Marietta, ranked No. 2 in the nation, has won seven straight games and the defending national champions are 14-3 overall and in first place in the OAC at 2-0 after sweeping Ohio Northern in the conference opener this past Saturday.

Mount Union is 15-6 overall and has won six of its last seven games with the only loss in that span coming in a 6-0 loss to Otterbein this past weekend as the Purple Raiders split their conference opening series.

The matchup features one of the conference's top hitting teams -- Mount Union is No. 3 in the OAC with a team batting average of .317 against a Marietta pitching staff that tops the conference and is No. 2 in the nation with a 1.63 earned run average.

Mount Union sophomore right fielder Connor Mathis (Akron/Firestone) leads the OAC with a .456 batting average and 27 runs batted in while second in stolen bases with 10.  Teammate and fellow sophomore in left fielder Ricky Olasz (West Mifflin, Pa./West Mifflin) is fourth in the conference with a .429 batting average.

The Raiders are tied with Baldwin-Wallace with a conference-leading 37 stolen bases but Marietta shortstop and Alliance native Tim Saunders is tied for the individual lead with 11 steals.

Sophomores Mike Horning (Avon/Avon) and Zach Carlino (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) are expected to get the starts on the mound Tuesday.  Horning has made eight appearances and four starts with a 2-0 record, 2.88 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 25.0 innings while Carlino is 1-1 in five appearances, three starts, and has seven strikeouts in 16.1 innings pitched.

Marietta has three pitchers that have earned run averages under 1.00 including projected pitchers for this series in Mike Mulvey and Mike Mahaffey.  Mulvey, with a conference-best 0.53 ERA, is 1-0 in four appearances and has struckout 14 in 17 innings pitched while Mahaffey has a 0.68 ERA and is 3-0 with 25 strikeouts in 26.2 innings.

Austin Blaski and Brian Gasser both lead the staff with four wins each but both 6.0 and 5.0 innings respectively in picking up wins Saturday over Otterbein.

Kyle Lindquist has picked up two saves and not allowed an earned run in 5.0 innings of work this season.

At the plate, Evan Brockmeier leads the Pioneers with a .391 batting average along with 15 RBI, Kirby Becker hits .356, Aaron Hopper is at .344 with a team-best 16 RBI while Saunders is at .333 with a team-high two home runs.

THE SERIES

Marietta has won 64 of 69 meetings since 1968 and the Pioneers have won four straight in the series.  Mount Union's last win was 19-11 victory on April 9, 2009 in Alliance.

UP NEXT ...

Mount Union stays on the road and heads to Berea for an OAC doubleheader at Baldwin-Wallace Friday, April 6 at 1 pm at Heritage Field.