The Malone University baseball team will have a chance to clinch a berth in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Tournament this weekend when it travels to Davis & Elkins for a four-game weekend series. The Pioneers, who are 10-6 in the G-MAC standings, need just one win over the Senators to punch their ticket to the postseason.  Malone is currently riding an eight-game winning streak, the longest win streak since 2012. A four-game sweep of the Senators would give Malone its longest streak since 2009.
 

GameDay (4/28) Malone at Davis & Elkins (DH) – 12:00 pm (4/29) Malone at Davis & Elkins (DH) – 12:00 pm Live Video/Stats: portal.stretchinternet.com/dande Twitter: @BaseballMaloneU

Last Time Out
The Pioneers picked up a pair of wins in a non-conference doubleheader sweep of Ohio Dominican on Wednesday. In their last G-MAC series two weekends ago, the Pioneers split a four-game set with Trevecca Nazarene.
 
Last weekend, Davis & Elkins was swept by Ohio Valley in its own four-game series. The Senators have dropped nine of their last 10.
 
All-Time Series
Malone has never previously played Davis & Elkins

Team Comparison

Malone	Category	D & E
28-14 (10-6 G-MAC)	Record	8-30 (2-14 G-MAC)
.334	Avg	.255
.415	OBP	.346
6.0	Runs/Gm	3.8
18	HR	5
48	SB	26
3.60	ERA	8.09
1.42	WHIP	1.94
7.9	K/9 IP	6.0

Malone Notes - Roster | Schedule | Stats

• Matt Noel (.444, 1 HR, 30 RBI) and Keanan Locke (.426, 7 HR, 44 RBI) continue to rake in the middle of the order. The duo are 1-2 in the G-MAC in hitting while Noel leads the conference in OBP (.517) and Locke leads the league in slugging percentage (.713).
• Nate Cobb (.368, .464) is ninth in the G-MAC in hitting and fourth in OBP. He leads the conference in runs (46) and stolen bases (20).
• Brenden Wells(.370, .436 OBP) ranks top-10 in the conference in a number of statistical categories including hits (56) – 3rd, runs (39) – 2nd, doubles (12) – 5th, RBI (32) – 7th, slugging (.571) – 5th.
• Zach Mottice (.359, 25 R), Ryan Sarbaugh (.410 OBP, 19 RBI), and Joe Crank (.364 OBP, 28 R, 26 RBI) have all made substantial contributions to Malone's win streak. The trio have started all 42 games on the infield this season.
• The weekend rotation of Roscoe Blackburn (3-1, 0.56 ERA), Joshua Hurford (5-0, 1.77 ERA), Kyle Kovach (2-0, 2.78 ERA), and Eric Mullet (5-1, 3.52 ERA) make up the best rotations not only in the conference but in the Midwest Region.  The foursome has combined to go 15-2 with a 1.98 ERA.
• Blackburn leads the team in strikeouts (54) and is 2nd in the nation in ERA. He is coming off of his first career complete game shutout last week.
• Hurford (40.2 IP, 35 K) and Mullet (38.1 IP, 36 K) each have complete game shutouts to their credit as well. Kovach (22.2 IP, 18 K) leads the group with a .202 batting average against.
• Gunnar Smeyres (2-2, 6 SV, 1.16 ERA) has been even tougher to get a hit off of, limiting opponents to a .160 batting average this season. The senior closer has 23 Ks in 23.1 innings and has not given up an earned run in his last nine appearances.
• In 16 G-MAC games this season, the Pioneer staff has a conference-low 2.91 ERA to go along with a .225 batting average against.
• Malone enters the weekend series 8-7 in road games this season, including a 4-4 mark in G-MAC contests.
   

Davis & Elkins Notes - Roster | Schedule | Stats

• The D&E offense is led by outfielders Johnny Liu (.338, 13 RBI) and Robbie McKinney (.278, 22 RBI) along with a trio of infielders: Thomas Hunter (.301, 1 HR,  7 RBI), Garrett Dorton (.298, 1 HR, 11 RBI), and Michael Wood (.295, 1 HR, 20 RBI)
• The pitching staff is led by Tyler Honeycutt (51.0 IP, 43 K) and Austin Main (45.0 IP, 43 K)
• The Senators have played just one game on their home field this season where they are 1-0.