ALLIANCE, Ohio – Mount Union's baseball team rallied from a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead in the eighth but Case Western Reserve came back with a run in the ninth and two in the 10th to beat the Purple Raiders, 6-4 Tuesday at Rafeld-Rogers Field.
The Spartans (3-0) scored three runs in the top half of the first inning with the big hit coming on a two-run home run from Zach Carinci.
Mount Union (0-3) starter Thomas Gallant (Pataskala / Watkins Memorial) would settle down and strike out eight over the next four innings and keep Case Western Reserve from adding to the lead.
The Raiders would chip away at the deficit with solo home runs from Walker Marlowe (Berlin Center / Western Reserve) in the second and Trey Weaver (Franklin, Pa. / Franklin Area) in the fourth to make it 3-2 and tie the game in the fifth off an Eric Schilling (Stow / Stow-Munroe Falls) single down the left field line.
Mount Union kept the game at 3-3 thanks to three innings of relief work from Dwayne Sumler (Indianapolis, Ind. / Pike) and the Raiders took their first lead in the eighth, 4-3, on a Marlowe RBI double.
The Spartans got to Sumler in the ninth as there were two walks and double before the game was tied on a wild pitch.
A walk, a single and a hit batter allowed Case Western Reserve to load the bases in the 10th and Trey Haley hit a two-run single to give the Spartans a 6-4 lead.
Carinci came in from third base to pitch the bottom of the 10th and pick up the save while Nick Harms got the win out of the pen.
Colin Skufka (Wooster) took the loss in relief for Mount Union.
Weaver, Schilling and Marlowe all had two hits for the Raiders.
Mount Union will now play 10 games in its spring trip in Auburndale, Florida, starting Friday with two games against Lakeland (Wis.).
