WASHINGTON, Pa. – An impressive showing for the Mount Union baseball team on Sunday against teams that were either nationally ranked or receiving national votes. The non-conference doubleheader was played at Washington and Jefferson.
Mount Union (4-1) started the day knocking off No. 25 Ithaca, 11-7. Senior
Jaired Lehman (Monroeville, Pa. / Gateway) connected on a three-run triple in the first inning for a 3-0 Mount lead, a lead the Purple Raiders did not relinquish. Graduate student
Zack Mazza (Flint, Mich. / Powers Catholic) extended the Purple Raiders' lead to 4-0 with an RBI-double in the fifth. Ithaca (0-1) finally got on the scoreboard with a three-run home run by Louis Fabbo in the bottom of the fifth. The Bombers would get within one run again in the sixth. Sophomore
Leo Fornara (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Chagrin Falls) improved to 2-0 on the season, pitching 5.0 innings and giving up three runs off three hits, and striking out seven. Lehman finished with a game-high four RBIs. Senior
Andrew Witte (Mentor, Ohio / Mentor) and junior
Chris Viamonte (Naples, Fla. / Coral Gables) both had three hits, while Mazza had a double and a pair of RBIs.
Against Case Western (4-0), the Raiders tied the game at 1 when Viamonte had a sacrifice fly in the third. The Spartans took a 4-1 lead with three runs in the fifth. Mount Union fought to the end, cutting the lead to 4-3 with an RBI-single by senior
Logan Bell (Alliance, Ohio / Alliance) in the eighth – scoring freshman
Luke Ickes (Green, Ohio / Green) who connected on a two-out double right before. The Raiders were close to tying the game or taking the lead with bases loaded in the eighth and the tying run on second in the ninth, however, the Spartans held on for a 4-3 win. Junior pitcher
Zachary Breeden (Cincinnati, Ohio / Cincinnati Elder) (0-1) went six innings, giving up four runs off five hits and striking out six.
Mount Union next will compete in the RussMatt Baseball Invitational in Florida, starting with Alma on Friday, March 1 at 9:30 a.m.
