The Malone University baseball team completed a four-game series sweep of Tiffin University Sunday, adding to Saturday's victories with two more wins on Senior Day. The Pioneers took care of Tiffin 8-3 in the opener before using their third walk-off of the weekend to capture the finale 10-9 in the bottom of the ninth. Malone upped their overall record to 23-16 on the season while improving their conference mark to 15-7 and tightening their grasp on a playoff bid.
 
Prior to Sunday's doubleheader, Malone honored the late great head coach Bob Starcher and announced this year's winners of the Bob Starcher Memorial Scholarship given to two Malone baseball juniors as well as one male and one female Malone athlete. Junior outfielders Keanan Locke and Brenden Wells joined men's basketball player Nick Williams and women's cross country and track & field runner Mackie Keller as this year's recipients.
 
Game One Recap:
Malone opened the scoring in the bottom of the first when red-hot Brenden Wells delivered his fourth double of the weekend, driving in a pair and putting Malone up 2-0. Tiffin answered back in the top of the third, when Tiffin third baseman Nick Hueneburg belted his GLIAC-leading 11th homerun of the season, tying the game at 2-2.
 
The Pioneers unloaded on the Dragons for five runs in the bottom of the third.  Wells drove in his third run of the day on a sac fly before a pair of defensive miscues plated three more runs. Joe Crank's run-scoring single gave Malone a 7-2 advantage. 
 
Wells' single in the fourth gave him four RBI for the day and put Malone ahead 8-2. A solo homerun for Tiffin's Kyle Lento in the sixth was all that the Dragons could muster as the Pioneers held on for their third win of the series.
 
Working on a strict pitch count, Clyde Yoder (3-1) earned the win on the mound, striking out four in four innings. Jordan Yoder worked the final three innings, allowing just the solo homerun, and picked up his first career save.
 
Seniors Jon Crank and Matt Davis each added two hits, while Crank crossed the plate three times.
 
Game Two Recap:
Following their Senior Day celebration, the Pioneers surrendered runs in each of the first two innings before coming to bat in the bottom of the second.
 
Wells continued his torrid afternoon with a single to lead off the inning before scoring on a double from Ryan Sarbaugh. Later in the inning, Austin Pachan's single knotted the game at two. Three pitches later, Keanan Locke took advantage of a lucky hop over the centerfielder's reach, turning a would-be single into a two-run triple that gave Malone a 4-2 edge.
 
Matt Davis' 5th homerun of the season, coming an inning later gave the Pioneers a 5-2 lead. A Tiffin run in the top of the fourth cut it to 5-3 before Ryan Sarbaugh's second RBI double of the game made it 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth.
 
In the top of the sixth, the Dragons cut the deficit to one after scoring two on a homerun from catcher Fernando Nieto. In the bottom of the sixth, Matt Davis made it a Senior Day to remember. His three-run shot, his second blast of the day, gave him four RBI and gave Malone a four-run advantage.
 
That four-run lead would last until the eighth when the Dragons used four singles to plate two runs and make it 9-7. Down to their last at bat in the top of the ninth, the Dragons put runners on second and third with two outs in the inning. Kyle Lento's bloop single over second base found grass and drove in two, tying the game at 9-all.
 
In an identical situation to Saturday night's ninth inning walk-off, Ryan Sarbaugh led off the inning with a single. Just like Saturday, Dyllan West pinch-ran for Sarbaugh and reached second on a sacrifice bunt. 
 
Following a harmless out, Malone again had its last chance with the game-winner still on second, and yet again the Pioneers won it on a walk-off. Senior Austin Pachan came through in the clutch, blooping a soft single into no-man's-land behind second base as West raced home to score the winning run for the second time in two days. 
 
Pachan finished his Senior Day with three hits and two RBI while Brenden Wells added three more singles and Keanan Locke chipped in with two singles and two RBI. Sarbaugh finished with a career-high four hits.
 
Up Next:
The Pioneers will travel to Mercyhurst (PA) for a non-conference nine-inning matchup this Tuesday, April 26th at 1:00 pm.