Hall of Fame
Steve Buso, a 1995 Malone graduate (Education), was a four-year letterman on the Pioneer baseball team. He is also a 1989 graduate of Rootstown High School.
A catcher who also played outfield, Buso was a two-time team captain who posted an impressive .364 career batting average with 10 home runs and 86 RBI's over his four seasons. He still holds the Malone career triples record with 13 and he held the career on-base record (.461) until 2001.
As a junior, Buso led the team with a.385 batting average and also led in hits (50), runs (36), triples (4), on-base average (.469) and stolen bases (14). He was named All NAIA District 22 that year. Then, as a senior, he paced the squad in batting average (.401), hits (59), runs (45), doubles (11), triples (8), RBI's (46), walks (25) and on-base average (.497). His eight triples that season is still a Malone single-season record. While being named an NAIA District 22 Player of the Week that season, Buso went on to be named NAIA All-District 22 and NAIA All-America Honorable Mention. In those 1992 and 1993 seasons, Malone finished as the runner-up in the NAIA District 22 postseason tournament.
During his four years at Malone, the team's record was 96-63-2 and the Pioneers' record during his senior season of 1993 was an incredible 36-9-1 (.793), which is still easily the best single-season winning percentage in Malone baseball history.
Buso currently holds a management position with the Biery Cheese Company in Louisville, Ohio. He and his wife, Noelle, and their two children, Rylie (11) and Tanner (9), reside in North Canton, Ohio.
