INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Mount Union baseball team opened its 2026 campaign with an 8-4 victory over Alfred State on Saturday afternoon at Grand Park.

The Purple Raiders (1-0) combined 11 hits to build an 8-0 lead before holding off a late ninth-inning surge by the Pioneers (0-1).

Mount Union jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second when junior Gavin Stevens plated classmate Drew Denham on an RBI groundout.

The Raiders broke the game open with a three-run fifth. Junior Trevor Szekely started the rally with a blasting an RBI triple to the right-center to score Denham. Two batters later, sophomore Aaron Tucker delivered a clutch two-out, two-RBI single to extend the lead to 5-0.

Sophomore Daniel Tome III laced an RBI triple in the sixth and another triple in the eighth—scoring on a Denham RBI single—to push the margin to 8-0.

Alfred State refused to go quietly in the ninth, using a two-run triple by Joey Sanna and a two-run home run by Sean Connor to cut the deficit in half, but the Raiders' defense settled in to record the final two outs and seal the win.

The Raiders recorded three triples on the day, with Tome accounting for two of them in a 3-for-5 performance. Denham reached base four times, finishing 3-for-3 with a walk, a double, and two runs scored.

Starting pitcher junior Ty Dennison earned the win with a dominant 6.0 innings of work, allowing just one hit, while striking out a career-high 10. Junior Christopher Maurer provided three innings of work with a strikeout to earn the save.

The Raiders have now won four straight season openers under head coach Paul Hesse.

Mount Union concludes its season-opening series against Alfred State tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 15, with a doubleheader at Grand Park. The first pitch of game one is set for 10 a.m.