The Malone University baseball team opened up the season Friday afternoon in Tucson, Arizona with a doubleheader against Concordia University, St. Paul. The Golden Bears dispatched of the Pioneers 5-3 in opener before completing the sweep with an 8-4 victory in game two.
Game One Recap:After giving up a run in the bottom of the first, the Pioneers tied it up at 1-1 on back-to-back extra hits with two outs in the top of the third. Junior centerfielder
Keanan Locke lined a triple to right field and plated Malone's first run of the year on senior catcher
Matt Davis' double off the left field wall.
The bottom of the third saw Concordia break the game open with four runs on four hits in the inning before
Ryan Froman's RBI double in the top the fourth cut the deficit to three.
Still down 5-2 in the top of the seventh, an RBI single from
Brenden Wells brought the tying run to the plate with one out, but the Golden Bears' senior reliever Yuji Suzuki retired the next two Pioneer hitters to secure the 5-3 victory.
Locke finished with two hits, a stolen base and a run scored while
Derek Carmichael and
Daulton Ritter each added a single and a run.
Jordan Yoder (2 IP, 0 R, 3 K's) and
Roscoe Blackburn (1 IP, 0 R, 1 K) were strong in relief.
Game Two Recap:In the nightcap, the Pioneers twice led by two runs before the Golden Bears fought back to tie and eventually come away with the 8-4 win.
Malone would take a 2-0 lead into the top of the fifth before Concordia's Eric Fasnacht, a preseason All-American, tied it up with an RBI double. The Pioneers would regain the lead in the bottom half of the innning when senior third baseman
Jon Crank delivered a two-RBI hit of his own. The Bears, however, stormed back with a five-run top of the sixth. Tanner Holmquist tied it up with a two-run homerun before Fasnacht came through with a three-run double to put the game out of reach.
Locke totaled two more hits and a run scored while Davis,
Richie Mast, and
Austin Pachan all crossed the plate in game two. Crafty senior lefthander
Tyler Whitlatch earned a no-decision despite allowing no runs over four innings and striking out four.
Up Next:The Pioneers (0-2) will return to the diamond tomorrow (Saturday), March 5th, with a 12:30 pm (2:30 pm EST) meeting with The Master's College (CA) before squaring off against Missouri Valley College at 4:00 pm MST (6:00 pm EST)