Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

The Malone University baseball team suffered a pair of tough defeats at NCAA Division II #18 Grand Valley State (MI) University on Saturday afternoon.   The Lakers used late-inning dramatics in both contests, pulling out a 4-3 triumph in game one and a 2-1 victory in the finale.

The Pioneers slipped to 18-30 overall and 13-19 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) following Saturday's games.  GVSU, meanwhile, clinched its fourth straight GLIAC Regular-season Title, improving to 32-11 overall and 23-6 in the conference.

Malone and Grand Valley State will wrap up the regular season on Sunday with a nine-inning game, starting at 12:00 p.m.

Game One Recap
Back-to-back, two-out RBI singles by rightfielder Matt Wheeler and second baseman Richie Mast gave the Pioneers a 2-1 advantage in the top of the fourth inning of the opener.

Malone then tacked on another score in the top of the seventh.  Three straight walks by leftfielder Austin Pachan, shortstop Kyler King and third baseman Jon Crank loaded the bases.  First baseman Logan Gray then ripped an RBI single to third, pushing the Pioneer lead to 3-1.

However, Grand Valley State refused to surrender, fighting back for the walk-off win in the bottom of the inning.  A lead-off double and a single put runners at the corners before the next batter of the inning was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  The Lakers sliced the lead to 3-2 by drawing a walk.  Designated hitter Jesse Abel then lined a base hit to right, bringing in the tying run from the third and winning run from second.

Starting pitcher Jack McDonald went the distance on the mound for Malone, striking out seven while walking just two over his six innings of work.

The Pioneers registered eight hits in the contest.  Gray and Mast led the way, each tallying a pair of singles.

Game Two Recap
The Lakers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of the finale.  Malone knotted the score in the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Gray and catcher Matt Davis.

The contest then remained deadlocked until the bottom of the seventh when GVSU put together another rally in its last at-bat.  The Lakers' Kevin Zak opened the inning with a single and then rounded first and headed to second on a Malone error.  After Grand Valley State's slugging first baseman Giancarlo Brugnoni was intentionally walked, Abel reached on a fielder's choice, putting runners on first and third with one out.  Zak then raced home with the winning run when third baseman Aaron Overbeck laid down a successful squeeze bunt.

Starting pitcher Matt Litty tossed the full 6.1 innings for the Pioneers, yielding the two runs (one earned) on six hits.

Pachan and Davis each posted two hits to pace the Malone offense.