The Case Western Reserve University baseball team, ranked 14th in Division III by d3baseball.com, dropped its opener to the 2025 season by a score of 9-5 to the University of Mount Union on Saturday afternoon at Grand Park in Westfield, Indiana, to open the Crossroads Crossover Series.

The Spartans started the season with a 0-1 record while the Purple Raiders began their season with a 1-0 mark.

Graduate student first baseman Dane Camphausen and senior outfielder Logan Andreyko both collected three hits for CWRU in five at-bats to pace the squad. Camphausen slugged his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, in the ninth inning. Junior outfielder Matt Trout, senior outfielder Jay Smith, and sophomore infielder Nate Arterburn all drove in runs.

The Spartans took an early 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by Trout in the second inning that plated senior outfielder Nick Harms. Mount Union responded in the bottom half, scoring on a sacrifice fly and a single to take a 2-1 lead.

CWRU starting pitcher Quinn Saunders (0-1) struck out the side in both the first and third innings, totaling seven strikeouts in just three frames of work. He allowed two runs, both of which were earned, on two hits and four walks.

The Purple Raiders added a run in the fourth inning and then plated five in the sixth inning to take a seven-run advantage. After they added another in the seventh inning, the Spartans rallied in the final frame. Smith delivered a run-scoring triple with no outs, and Arterburn drove him in with a sacrifice fly. After a two-out single by graduate student catcher Jack Anderson, Camphausen swatted the homer to center field to cut the deficit to four. However, the rally ended on a groundout.

Mount Union's Zachary Breeden (1-0) picked up his first win of the season, allowing just one run on four hits in seven innings.

CWRU will wrap up the three-game series tomorrow with contests against DePauw at 11 a.m. and Heidelberg at 2:30 p.m.

Spartan Notes

• Camphausen hit his 45th career home run and 14th as a Spartan, ranking eighth in program history
• The three-hit game was the Camphausen's fifth at CWRU and Andreyko's eighth in four seasons
• Anderson recorded his 232nd career hit, tying him for third in program history with Andrew Gronski. Chad Mullins holds the program record with 263 career hits
• Pitchers Eric Colgrove, Cody Hughes, Armand Ortiz, and Karthik Gondy and infielder Calvin Gelle all made their Spartan debuts in the game
• The loss stopped a streak of four consecutive seasons with wins to open campaigns for CWRU