The Malone University baseball team received another pair of quality starting pitching outings in a Sunday sweep of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (GLIAC) foe Ohio Dominican University. The Pioneers earned a four-game series sweep of the Panthers, following up Friday's wins, with a 3-2 extra-inning victory in game one Sunday and a 4-2 triumph in the finale. With the victories, Malone improved to 16-11 on the season and 8-2 in the GLIAC.
 
Game One Recap:
Centerfielder Keanan Locke led off the game with his 5th homerun of the season to give the Pioneers a 1-0 advantage. Three straight singles from Jon Crank, Matt Davis, and Brenden Wells pushed another run across as Wells' run-scoring single gave him 25 RBI on the season and gave Malone a 2-0 lead.
 
Ohio Dominican cut the lead in half with a double in the second. The 2-1 score would stand until the seventh as the two teams settled into a pitchers' duel.
 
A one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh chased Malone starter Braun Miller who had gone 6.1 innings, working around four hits and five walks while striking out seven. Pioneer closer Joshua Hurford came in to get the second out as Keanan Locke's diving catch in the gap saved a run.
 
Down to their final out, the Panthers reached base on a costly throwing error that allowed the runner on the first to come all the way around to score and tie the game at 2-2. Hurford induced a popout to force extra innings.
 
The Pioneers would break the tie in top of the tenth. Brenden Wells' second RBI single of the day put Malone on top 3-2.
 
The Malone bullpen worked through jams in the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings, stranding seven baserunners in the final three innings to preserve the victory.
 
Wells finished with three hits for Malone while Locke added a pair.
 
Game Two Recap:
Keanan Locke wasted no time in extending his hitting streak to 16 games with a double to lead off the first but was left on base as the Pioneers would be held scoreless until the top of the fifth.Ohio Dominican, meanwhile, took a 2-0 lead on Malone starter Roscoe Blackburn in the bottom of the first.
 
Malone would get up on the scoreboard in with four runs in the fifth. A bases loaded walk from Richie Mast followed by a Jon Crank RBI groundout tied it up at 2-2. The Pioneers would add a third run on a wild pitch and a fourth run on a passed ball.
 
Those two runs proved to be the difference as Malone held on for the 4-2 final. Blackburn (2-4) went the distance in a stellar performance. The sophomore lefthander allowed just one earned run, one walk, and six hits while struck out a half-dozen. After the first inning, he allowed just three hits in six scoreless innings.
 
Up Next:
Malone will battle arch nemesis Walsh University in a GLIAC South doubleheader on Wednesday, April 12th at Jackson High School. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 pm.