The Malone University baseball team ended is annual spring break trip to Tucson, Arizona with a 9-1 victory of Oklahoma Panhandle State University early Saturday morning. The Pioneers finished 8-3 at the Tucson Invite and now return to Ohio 9-4 overall. Malone will play its home opener this Wednesday, March 15th at 12:00 pm against Tiffin.
 
Recap
Starting pitcher Joshua Hurford spun another dandy on Saturday, following up a 12-strikeout effort against Dakota Wesleyan earlier in the week with a seven-strikeout effort against the Aggies. Hurford allowed just one run on five hits and a walk through seven innings as he improved to 2-0 on the season.
 
The two teams were scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Austin White singled home the game's first run. OPSU would tie it up in the top of the fifth before Malone broke it open with four runs in the bottom half.
 
Keanan Locke picked up where he left off in yesterday's 5-RBI performance with a two-run single to break the 1-1 deadlock. Starting catcher Matt Noel made it 4-1 with a RBI single  before Ryan Sarbaugh gave the Pioneers a 5-1 advantage with a sacrifice fly.
 
The Pioneers added another run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI groundout from Michael Mathieu. An inning later, Malone plated three more on run-scoring singles off the bats of Locke and Sarbaugh and a bases loaded hit-by-pitch off the body of Mathieu.
 
In all, Malone collected 14 hits. Brenden Wells connected on a pair of doubles and scored three runs while Locke accounted for two hits, two runs, and three RBI. Joe Crank and Matt Noel added two singles apiece while Austin White produced two hits including a double.