The Malone University baseball team split a pair of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (GLIAC) games with Northwood University (MI) dropping the first contest 18-11 before earning a victory in the nightcap. In game two, the Pioneers battled back to defeat the Timberwolves 8-3 under the lights late Sunday night at Jackson High School. The remaining two games that were originally scheduled have been canceled due to impending weather concerns.
Game One Recap:
The Pioneers opened after a 4-0 lead in on a grand slam homerun from senior catcher Matt Davis after Malone loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the first inning. Northwood responded with three runs in the top of the third.
A pair of solo homeruns from Brenden Wells and Austin Pachan put Malone up 6-3 in the bottom of the fourth before heavy rains suspended the contest on Saturday.
A 23-hour delay put the game on hold until Sunday. Pachan picked up where he left off with a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth, before scoring on a throwing error from the right fielder putting the Pioneers up 9-3.
The Pioneers squandered the six-run advantage as the Timberwolves batted around and battered the Malone bullpen, scoring seven runs in the top of the sixth to take a 10-9 lead. They added to their total with three runs in the eighth and five more in the ninth. Meanwhile, the Malone offense picked up a run in the bottom of the sixth on a Jon Crank solo shot and another run on a single from Wells but failed to close the scoring gap, falling by the 18-11 final tally.
Crank led the way with three hits and three runs scored while Wells, Pachan, Matt Davis, Matt Noel, and Joe Crank all added two hits apiece.
Game Two Recap:
The Timberwolves jumped on Malone early with two runs in the top of the first inning and another in the top of the second to take a 3-0 lead. In what looked to be a promising start for Northwood, the offense sputtered as Malone received stellar pitching efforts from a pair of freshmen.
After allowing three early runs, starting pitcher Braun Miller settled in to toss three scoreless innings. The Malone offense backed the young hurler with six runs through four innings. Brenden Wells' second homerun of the day cut the deficit to two in the bottom of the second. A two-run bomb off the bat of Keanan Locke in the bottom of the third tied it up at 3-3.
Malone went up for good later in the inning as Wells belted his second homer of the game and his third on the day to put the Pioneers ahead 5-3 and put Miller in the position to pick up his third victory of the season.
Freshman Clyde Yoder entered in the top of the sixth with the two-run cushion. The young righty proceeded to throw four hitless innings while striking out six. His brilliant performance allowed him to pick up his first career save.
On the offensive side, Wells added to his outstanding day with a run-scoring single in the seventh before Matt Davis closed the scoring with an RBI single in the eighth.
Keanan Locke finished with three hits while Matt Noel added two base knocks. Richie Mast contributed two singles and two runs scored.
Up Next:
The Pioneers (12-10) will face Seton Hill (PA) in a nine-inning non-conference contest on Wednesday, April 6th at 12:00 pm at Jackson High School.
