Box Score

The Malone University baseball team suffered a 5-2 defeat to Bluefield (VA) College on Thursday, the second day of pool-play action at the NCCAA World Series in Mason, Ohio.  The Rams, seeded seventh among the 10-team NCCAA National Tournament field, scored all five of their runs in the bottom of the third inning with the help of a walk, two singles and three costly Pioneer errors.

The loss dropped sixth-seeded Malone to 31-24 overall and 0-3 in pool-play competition.  Bluefield, meanwhile, kept its NCCAA semifinal hopes alive with the victory, improving to 32-28 on the season and 1-1 in the pool-play round.

In the tournament's pool play format, the 10 teams are divided into two 5-team pools and each team is guaranteed at least four games, playing every other team in their respective pool.  The top two teams in each pool will advance to the semifinal contests on Friday afternoon.  The championship game is set for Saturday morning.

Unfortunately for the Pioneers, Thursday's defeat to Bluefield combined with Wednesday's losses to second-seeded California Baptist University and third-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan University will prevent the squad from moving on to the semifinals.  Malone will conclude its season on Friday with a 1:00 p.m. contest against No. 10 seed Mid-Continent (KY) University.

Leftfielder Sam Craciun put the Pioneers on top 1-0 in the top of the first inning of Thursday's game after leading off the contest with a single to right, advancing to second on a passed ball and then coming home to score on a Bluefield throwing error.

The Rams then took command with the big inning.  Following a one-out Pioneer fielding miscue and a walk, back-to-back RBI singles by centerfielder Alex Riley and rightfielder Kyle Long put Bluefield in front.  Malone starting pitcher Tyler Newhart struck out the next batter of the inning.  However, the Rams managed to bring home three more runs following consecutive Pioneer errors.

After leading off the fifth inning with a double down the leftfield line, shortstop Kyle Sprague crossed the plate on an RBI groundout by first baseman Matt Anderson.  5-2 was as close as Malone would get, though, as Bluefield starting pitcher Zac Russell-Myers allowed just one base runner over the final two innings.

Russell-Myers surrendered just the two runs (one earned) on five hits during the complete-game victory to improve his record to 4-8 on the season.  Newhart also went the distance on the mound, suffering the loss (7-2) after giving up the five runs (only one of which was earned) on just five hits.

Anderson led the way at the plate for Malone, going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and the RBI groundout.