The Malone University baseball team came away with two non-conference wins over Notre Dame College (OH) on Wednesday afternoon at Jackson High School by the final scores of 6-5 and 17-7.
 
Game One Recap:
The visiting Falcons took advantage of the short fences and a stiff breeze, collecting two solo homeruns in the top of the first to open up a 2-0 lead.
 
Matt Davis answered with a two-run bomb of his own that stayed just inside of the left field foul pole that tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the second.
 
RBI singles from Joe Crank and Derek Carmichael put Malone up 4-2 after the third inning but a pair of RBI groundouts from Notre Dame knotted the contest at 4-4.
 
Still tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth, the Pioneers loaded the bases with nobody out before Ryan Froman drew a walk that gave Malone the 5-4 advantage.
 
After adding another tally, the Pioneers led 6-4 heading into the top of the seventh. Newly appointed closer Josh Hurford worked around a run and three base hits to earn his second save of the year as Malone triumphed 6-5.
 
Shawn Mills picked up the win on the mound after tossing two scoreless innings.
 
Game Two Recap:
After spotting Notre Dame another 2-0 lead after the first inning, Malone busted out the bats in a big way in the second game of the double-dip.
 
A leadoff homerun from Keanan Locke sparked a five-run first inning. Jon Crank drove in a run with a double and Brenden Wells clubbed his own double, driving in a pair. Freshman catcher Matt Noel drove in the fifth run of the inning with a single to right.
 
Notre Dame plated a run in top of the second but Noel's two-out two-run double in the bottom of the inning put Malone ahead 7-3.
 
The Falcons added a fourth run in their half of the third but Jon Crank's three-run shot off his shoe tops cleared the right-centerfield fence and gave the Pioneers a 10-4 advantage.
 
NDC managed another run in the fourth inning before the Pioneers scored six more runs and batted around in the bottom half. Richie Mast drove in the first run on a hustle double to left field. It was Crank again, this time for the opposite side of the plate, providing the theatrics. His second three-run round-tripper of the game put Malone up 14-5. Two batters later, Brenden Wells clubbed his second four-bagger of the season to give Malone a 16-5 edge.
 
The Pioneers went up 17-5 in the bottom of the fifth when Austin Pachan kept up the homerun theme. His solo knock was the second of his career and the Pioneers' fifth blast of the game.
 
Notre Dame scored two more runs in the top of the seventh before Malone prevailed with the 17-7 victory. The Pioneers pounded out 19 hits in the contest, including 11 of the extra-base variety.
 
Jon Crank recorded a career-high seven RBI and scored three runs. Richie Mast added three hits and three runs while Austin Pachan added two hits and two runs. Brenden Wells totaled three hits and four RBI. Matt Noel went a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate and drove in three. Senior Chad Neff picked up his first hit of the season with a pinch-hit single in sixth.
 
Matthew Criswell earned his first career victory after pitching two scoreless innings.
 
Up Next:
Malone (11-9) will take on Northwood University (MI) for four conference games this weekend. The first of the four games is set to be played on Saturday, April 2nd at 4:00 pm.