AKRON, Ohio – Mount Union head baseball coach Paul Hesse won his 600^th career game as the Purple Raiders won, 4-2, over Wooster at Canal Park, home of the Akron RubberDucks - the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians.
 
Hesse, in his 28th season, is the winningest coach in program history. Since taking over as head coach in 1997, Hesse is first in wins and games coached at Mount Union and is one of only six coaches in the history of the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) to have won more than 500 games. Hesse was named the OAC Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2017, and was inducted into the 2024 Greater Stark County Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame.
 
Wooster (13-19) scored first with a run in the third inning. Mount Union (24-10) responded in the fourth and took the lead with three runs, courtesy of a two-run double down the left field line by junior Joe Lenart (Cleveland, Ohio / Garfield Heights) and a RBI-single to right center by junior Alex Stegman (Berea, Ohio / Berea-Midpark). The Fighting Scots scored one run in the seventh, however, Mount matched it in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI-single by junior Chris Viamonte (Naples, Fla. / Coral Gables).
 
Sophomore Leo Fornara (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Chagrin Falls) earned the win after coming in for relief with two perfect innings, including two strikeouts. Senior Chuck Hawley (Mentor, Ohio / Mentor) earned the save with 4.0 innings of work, only allowing two hits and one run, to go along with four strikeouts. Sophomore Anthony Warner (Louisville, Ohio / Louisville) started on the mound and only gave up one run off one hit in three innings with two strikeouts in the no decision.
 
The Raiders will next host Ohio Northern in an OAC doubleheader on Saturday, April 27. Game one is set for 1 p.m.