The Malone University baseball team tallied a 1-1 record on Sunday afternoon during its Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at Lake Erie College.  The Pioneers pocketed an 8-2 victory in the opener before falling by a narrow 5-4 margin in game two.

The two squads will wrap up their four-game series on Monday with a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader at Thurman Munson Stadium.

Game One Recap
Malone (13-9 overall, 4-2 GLIAC) broke through with four runs in the top of the second inning of the opener.  Leftfielder Ryan Froman got the scoring started with a two-run single.  Second baseman Austin Pachan followed with an RBI single to center before centerfielder Brenden Wells wrapped up the frame with a sacrifice fly.

After the Storm (8-5 overall, 5-1 GLIAC) got on the scoreboard with two runs in the bottom of the inning, Pioneer designated hitter Matt Davis blasted his first home run of the season, pushing the Malone lead to 5-2 in the top of the third. 

The Pioneers then tacked on two more runs in the fifth and a solo run in the seventh to account for the 8-2 final score.

Malone right-hander Joshua Hurford registered his third victory of the season (3-1) after working the first six innings, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out eight.

Tyler Whitlatch relieved Hurford and tossed a scoreless seventh to close out the contest.

The Pioneers registered 12 hits over the course of the game.  Davis went 3-for-3 with the home run and three runs scored.  Catcher Hayden Mobley added a pair of singles with two runs scored.  Rightfielder Matt Wheeler went 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI double while Pachan finished with two base hits and two runs batted in.

Game Two Recap
A solo homer to left-centerfield by Wheeler put Malone on top 1-0 in the top of the second inning of the finale.  The advantage then grew to 2-0 in the third inning on shortstop Richie Mast's RBI single. 

Lake Erie cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the third with an RBI double and then pulled ahead 4-2 in the fourth after stringing together three consecutive two-out base hits.

The Storm added a solo run in the fifth to make it 5-2.  Malone fought back to within 5-4 in the sixth.  Following singles by Mast and third baseman Jon Crank, Mobley chased home the first run of the inning with a single through the left side of the infield.  Following a strikeout, Wheeler ripped an RBI double to left-center, scoring Crank and putting the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position.  However, reliever Brandon Grunda then entered the game and retired the next two batters to keep Lake Erie's one-run advantage intact.

Grunda then remained in the game for the final three innings, allowing just one Malone hit the rest of the way to preserve the 5-4 victory and earn his third save of the year.

Lefthander Cody  Ballay suffered the loss (2-2) after tossing the first five innings for the Pioneers.  Reliever Gunnar Smeyres hurled three scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out three.

Both squads totaled nine base hits.  Wheeler went 2-for-4 with the double and homer while Mobley and Mast both added a pair of singles.