The Malone University baseball team upped its winning streak to four straight games after posting a pair of 9-inning victories over Northern State University and Concordia University (NE) Wednesday afternoon in Tucson, Arizona. Malone came back from two runs down with four in the ninth to defeat NSU 5-3 in the opener before making it a perfect 2-for-2 on the day with a 3-2 victory over Concordia in game two.
 
Game One Recap
In a good old-fashioned pitcher's duel, the game would remain scoreless until the top of the sixth when Malone scored the game's first run on an RBI single from Michael Mathieu.
 
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of seventh, Northern State finally put up a crooked number with two unearned runs with two outs the inning. After retiring the first two batters, starting pitcher Roscoe Blackburn walked two before inducing a potential inning-ending groundout. A costly Malone error on the play led to two runs on a base hit a batter later. Blackburn, who would earn a no-decision, was outstanding for the Pioneers, striking out eight batters while giving up just two hits and three walks over 6.2 innings pitched.
 
Malone saw its one-run deficit double as the Wolves plated a third run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 3-1.
 
The Pioneers came through with four runs in the top of the ninth to eventually regain the lead. Run-scoring hits from Nate Cobb and Joe Crank highlighted the four-run ninth.  Freshman Kyle Kovach came on to close the door in the bottom of the inning as Malone claimed the 5-3 victory.
 
Michael Mathieu totaled three singles to lead the Malone offense. Brenden Wells added a pair of hits.
 
Game Two Recap
Clyde Yoder (1-2) bounced back from a pair of rough outings to earn his first win of the season while Kyle Kovach charted his second save of the day. Yoder allowed just one unearned run while striking out eight over six innings.
 
The Pioneers plated three runs in the first four innings before hanging on to win 3-2. Brenden Wells drove in a run on a sac fly in the first, Nate Cobb added an RBI double in the second, and Joe Crank drove in a run with a triple in fourth.

Cobb reached base in all four trips to the plate (two singles, two walks) and scored twice. Ryan Sarbaugh added a double.
 
Up Next
The Pioneers, now 7-3 on the season, will take on a quality St. Cloud St. squad Thursday night at 6:00 pm MST (8:00 pm EST) under the lights of Kino Stadium.