The nationally ranked Mount Union baseball team, ranked 17th, split with Case Western Reserve in a home opener doubleheader at Rafeld Rogers Field. The Spartans received 50 votes in the latest D3Baseball.com poll, the highest among unranked teams. 
 
In game one, senior right-handed pitcher Anthony Warner (Louisville, OH / Louisville) started on the mound, pitching 4.2 innings. He recorded three strikeouts, allowing nine hits and five runs. Freshman right-handed pitcher Cole Young (Westlake, OH / Westlake) came in as a relief pitcher and earned his first career win, throwing 4.1 innings with three strikeouts. He successfully limited Case Western to four hits and no runs. 
 
Catcher Collin Pool started the scoring for the Spartans in the second inning with a sacrifice fly to center field. However, the Purple Raiders responded in the third inning when junior Luke Ickes (Green, OH / Green) hit an RBI single to center field. Ickes had an outstanding game, going 4-for-5 with an extra-base hit and two RBIs. Sophomore shortstop Daniel Tome III (Cleveland, OH / St. Edwards) then gave Mount Union the lead with an RBI sacrifice fly to center field, putting the team ahead 2-1 by the end of the third inning. 
 
Case Western responded quickly in the fourth inning, scoring three runs, highlighted by a two-RBI single from center fielder Jasiah Harris. However, Mount Union didn't back down. In the bottom of the inning, senior second baseman Aidan Schroeder (Pittsburgh, PA / Keystone Oaks) hit an RBI single to left field. In a back-and-forth affair, Pool answered for the Spartans in the fifth inning with an RBI single down the right field line. 
 
In the fifth inning, senior outfielder Chris Tsouras (Las Vegas, NV / Arbor) hit a three-run home run, marking his sixth home run of the season and giving the Purple Raiders a 6-5 lead. Mount Union added two more insurance runs, one in the seventh and one in the eighth inning. Junior third baseman Drew Denham (Alliance, OH / Marlington) contributed with an RBI single to center field in the seventh. In the eighth, Ickes hit an RBI double to left field for his second RBI of the game, securing an 8-5 victory for the Purple Raiders. 
 
Senior right-handed pitcher Leo Fornara (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Chagrin Falls) made the start for the Purple Raiders in game two, pitching 1.0 innings of work with two strikeouts, allowing two hits and two runs. Freshman right-handed pitcher Evan Roberts (Newark, OH / Licking Valley) did an outstanding job in relief, pitching a strong 7.0 innings of work with three strikeouts, allowing seven hits and four runs, with only two being earned. 
 
Case Western got the scoring started in the first inning, scoring two runs, highlighted by an RBI single by designated hitter Tyler Stillson.  
 
The Spartans' starting pitcher, Archer Stankowski, pitched 4.1 innings, striking out three, allowing six hits and four runs, with only three earned.  
 
After a dominant stretch of pitching, the Purple Raiders got on the board in the fifth inning, as Tome III hit an RBI single to right-center field. Ickes scored on a wild pitch to follow, and Denham hit an RBI double to left field. To wrap up the scoring, freshman catcher Jake Jung (Westlake, OH / Westlake) had an RBI walk, giving Mount Union a 4-2 lead to end the fifth. 
 
In the top of the sixth inning, Case Western answered right away, as Harris delivered with a two-RBI single to left field. In the bottom of the sixth, the Purple Raiders answered themselves immediately, as Ickes delivered with an RBI single to right field, scoring junior Brycen Fox (Hamilton, OH / Badin), who scored his second run of the game, as he had a strong performance, going 3-for-4 with a walk and a triple. In the seventh, the Purple Raiders added to the lead, as pinch-hitter Derek Curry (Pittsburgh, PA / West Allegheny) delivered an RBI double to right field for his 12th RBI of the season.  
 
Senior right-handed pitcher Ryan Romito (North Ridgeville, OH / North Ridgeville) pitched 1.2 innings of work with one strikeout, allowing two hits and one run as the Spartans took the lead in the ninth, as Stillson had an RBI groundout, as Case Western ultimately won 7-6. 
 
Mount Union will return to action on Saturday, hosting Otterbein in a doubleheader at Rafeld-Rogers Field.