While the rain continued to fall here in Canton, Ohio, the Malone University baseball team picked up a pair of wins in a doubleheader sweep of Dakota Wesleyan (SD) Monday under the clear skies of Tucson, Arizona. The Pioneers defeated the Tigers 11-6 in game one before a tremendous pitching performance from Joshua Hurford gave Malone a 1-0 win in the nightcap.

With the win in the opener, veteran head coach Tom Crank earned his 400th career victory at the helm of the Pioneers. In his 14th season as the Malone skipper, Crank boasts a 401-298-1 record and sits just behind his legendary head coach and former mentor Bob Starcher (521 wins) on Malone's all-time coaching wins list. His Pioneers, now 5-3 on the season, will be back in action on Wednesday, March 8th with two more games at the Tucson Invitational.

Game One Recap
Malone grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI triple from Brenden Wells and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Matt Noel. The Pioneers quickly squandrered their lead, though, as the Tigers plated one in the first and two in the second to take a 3-2 lead.

Malone bounced back on top with a four-spot in the third. Wells came through again with a two-run double before Austin White added two more runs with a two-bagger to left center that gave the Pioneers a 6-3 lead. Malone would take a 9-3 lead two innings later on a two-run double from Michael Mathieu and an RBI single from Zach Mottice.

The Pioneers tacked on a 10th run on a Mottice base knock in the sixth before adding their 11th and final run on a Matt Noel single in the seventh. Dakota Wesleyan scored twice in the bottom of the sixth, but Malone closed to door in the bottom of the seventh to secure the 11-6 victory.

Nate Cobb, Joe Crank, Wells, and Noel, the Pioneers' 1-4 hitters, each finished with two hits and two runs while Mottice, the #9 hitter, totaled two hits and two RBI.

Jordan Yoder (2-0) picked up the victory after tossing four relief innings, striking out five and allowing two earned runs.

Game Two Recap
The Pioneers tallied their only run in the top of the first when Nate Cobb came around to score on a double from Ryan Sarbaugh. It was the only offense Malone would need as junior righty Joshua Hurford was brilliant in a seven-inning gem.

Making his first start of the 2017 season, Hurford (1-0) struck out a career-high 12 batters en route to his first collegiate shutout. He allowed just six hits and one walk and induced inning-ending strikeouts in five of the seven Dakota Wesleyan at bats. 

Cobb and Matt Noel each produced two hits to pace the Pioneer offense.