Game 1 Box Score  |  Game 2 Box Score

The Malone University baseball team registered a pair of victories on Friday in its home doubleheader against Notre Dame College.  Pioneer starting pitcher Jared Messer tossed a two-hit shutout in the opener to lead Malone to a 4-0 win.  The Pioneers then tallied a 9-8 extra-inning triumph in game two as catcher Bob Suitca drove in the winning run with a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth.

Malone improved its overall record to 9-13 with the doubleheader sweep while the visiting Falcons fell to 9-13-1.

The Pioneers will be back in action next weekend when the squad travels to Hamilton, Ohio for four games.  On Friday, Malone will take on the University of Cincinnati-Clermont at 1:00 p.m. before facing Miami University-Hamilton at 3:30 p.m.   The Pioneers will then conclude the trip with an 11:00 a.m. doubleheader against Miami-Hamilton on Saturday.

Game One Recap
A fifth-inning single to center and a seventh-inning single up the middle were the only base hits the Falcons were able to register off Messer in the opener, a contest which lasted just one hour and twenty minutes.  The junior right-hander worked quickly, striking out a season-high seven while walking just one en route to his fourth victory (4-1) and second shutout of the year.

Malone got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third as centerfielder Adam Heideman came home to score on a two-out RBI single by shortstop Joe Goddard.  The Pioneers then struck for three more runs in the bottom of the fifth.  Heideman led off the frame with his second homer of the season, a towering shot that carried well over the leftfield fence.  Rightfielder Marc Adams and leftfielder Sam Craciun followed with infield singles and both then later came home to score on a two-run single to right-center by first baseman Matt Anderson.

Heideman would later wrap up a 3-for-3 game at the plate with a two-out single to center in the bottom of the sixth.

Game Two Recap
The back-and-forth finale remained scoreless until each squad scored two runs in its respective half of the fourth inning.  The Falcons got their fourth-inning runs on a one-out double to left by rightfielder Jesse Bartle.  The Pioneers then knotted things up with back-to-back two-out RBI singles by rightfielder Frank Dufour and Craciun in the bottom of the frame.

A wild pitch allowed Falcon shortstop Mike Ferguson to sprint home from third in the top of the fifth, putting NDC in front 3-2.  However, Malone responded in the bottom of the inning, stringing together four consecutive two-out base hits to retake the lead at 5-3.  Catcher T.J. Rosenberg knotted things up at 3-3 with a double to right and second baseman Logan Gray followed with a two-run single up the middle.

The seesaw battle then continued in the sixth.  The Falcons scored three times in the top half of the inning to make the score 6-5 before Malone answered with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning.  Anderson got things started with an RBI single to center and Heideman then followed with a two-run single up the middle to make the score 8-6.

A key Pioneer error with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the seventh allowed the Falcons to tie things up at 8-8.  Malone was then unable to manufacture any runs in the bottom of the seventh, sending the contest to extra innings.

After reliever Jesse Coblentz worked a scoreless top of the eighth, Anderson led off the bottom of the frame with a single to center.  A sacrifice bunt by Heideman and a wild pitch then moved Anderson to third.  The Falcons moved the infield in to try and cut down the runner at home but Suitca's single sailed under the glove of NDC's diving shortstop, securing the thrilling 9-8 Malone victory.

Coblentz tossed the final two innings to pick up his first win of the year (1-1) .  Reliever Travis Bondy was the loser (0-2) for NDC after giving up the eighth-inning run.

Malone racked up 16 base hits in the contest as five different Pioneers recorded at least two hits apiece.  Gray led the way with three hits in four at-bats and the two runs batted in.  Goddard, Anderson, Heideman and Suitca, the top four hitters in Malone's game two lineup, all added two hits each.