GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Mount Union baseball team opened its 2024 season with a sweep at Guilford College in a non-conference doubleheader on Saturday.
The Purple Raiders won game one, 3-2, in extra innings and won convincingly, 14-3, in game two.
In the first game, Guilford held onto a 1-0 lead for the first five innings until Mount Union took a 2-1 lead with two runs in the sixth, capped off with an RBI-single by senior
Vince Armeni (Youngstown, Ohio / Ursuline). Guilford tied it in the bottom of the sixth, forcing extra innings. Mount junior
Chris Viamonte (Naples, Fla. / Coral Gables) scored the game-winning run in the ninth. Junior
Zachary Breeden (Cincinnati, Ohio / Cincinnati Elder) gave up no hits (two runs) in 5.1 innings of work, while striking out four. Junior
Brady Hansen (Beaver, Pa. / Beaver Area) earned the win after coming in for relief, only allowing one hit in 3.2 scoreless innings and striking out four.
No extra innings were needed in game two with a productive six-run fourth inning by the Raiders. Four Purple Raiders had multi RBIs, led by Armeni, graduate student
Eric Schilling (Stow, Ohio / Stow-Munroe Falls), and senior
Jaired Lehman (Monroeville, Pa. / Gateway) who all had three RBIs each. Graduate student
Zack Mazza (Flint, Mich. / Powers Catholic) had a pair of RBIs, to go along with three runs scored. Senior
Andrew Witte (Mentor, Ohio / Mentor) went 3 for 5 with three runs scored and a double. Sophomore
Leo Fornara (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Chagrin Falls) pitched four innings and gave up three runs off seven hits, while earning six strike outs.
Mount Union will play Guilford tomorrow in a nine-inning game starting at 12 p.m.
