The Malone University baseball team failed to make up any ground in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) standings on first-place Trevecca Nazarene University after being swept by the Trojans in a doubleheader Friday night in Nashville. Malone struggled to score runs in the twinbill, falling 6-2 in the opener before dropping a 3-2 decision on a walkoff in game two.
The Pioneers, now 8-6 in the G-MAC and 20-14 overall, fell a game back of Alderson Broaddus to third place in the conference and now trail Trevecca (12-2 G-MAC) by four games in the standings.
Game One Recap
Trevecca Nazarene took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after coaxing back-to-back walks from starting pitcher Roscoe Blackburn who entered the game with a streak of 36.1 innings without allowing an earned run. Blackburn worked out of the jam but a Malone throwing error led to an unearned run as his impressive streak remained intact.
Malone would get even with a run in the top of the fourth on three straight singles from Ryan Sarbaugh, Damian Maglione, and Michael Mathieu. An inning later, the Pioneers would take the lead on a solo shot from Brenden Wells who extended his hit streak to 23 straight games with the long ball.
Leading 2-1 entering the bottom of the fifth, Malone fell victim to aggressive TNU baserunning, a pair of bunt hits, and a big two-out, two-run single as the Trojans jumped ahead 4-2. Despite some shaky Malone defense in the inning, all three runs were earned as Blackburn (2-1) finally saw his streak of not allowing an earned run finally come to an end at 40.2 innings to start the season.
Trevecca added a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh on a homerun and another Malone error before holding on for the 6-2 victory. In total, the Malone defense was guilty of five errors in the contest, tying a season-high.
The Malone offense generated 12 base hits (11 singles) but left 10 runners on base. Maglione and Mathieu each collected three hits, Sarbaugh added a pair.
Game Two Recap
The Pioneers managed just three hits in the first five innings against Trevecca ace Jesse Peters who entered the contest 5-1 with a 1.91 ERA and a G-MAC leading 58 strikeouts. Two of those hits, however, came in the top of the first as back-to-back base knocks from Brenden Wells and Matt Noel following a leadoff walk from Nate Cobb gave Malone a 1-0 lead.
Malone countered with Joshua Hurford who struck out six over four innings pitched but gave up a pair of doubles in the first and a solo homerun in the bottom of the fourth as the Trojans opened up a 2-1 lead.
The Pioneers finally got to Peters again in the top of the sixth with a trio of singles. The third hit of the inning, a line drive to center off the bat of Tom Eslich, tied the game up at 2-2.
After being held scoreless by Gunnar Smeyres in the fifth and sixth, the Trojans loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh before winning on a walkoff sacrifice fly.
Matt Noel had two singles for the Pioneers. Brenden Wells extended his hitting streak to 24 consecutive games.
Up Next
The Pioneers will be back it again on Saturday with another doubleheader with the Trojans starting at 12:00 pm CT (1:00 pm ET).
