The Malone University baseball lost a pair of six-run games to archrival Walsh University in a non-conference doubleheader Wednesday afternoon in North Canton. The Pioneers allowed eight unanswered runs in the opener, falling by an 8-2 final. In the nightcap, Malone gave up three-first-inning runs before falling 9-3. Wednesday marked just the third time all season that Malone, now 15-11, dropped back-to-back contests.
 
Game One Recap
The trio of 
Brenden Wells, 
Keanan Locke, and 
Matt Noel , who entered the week as one of just five teammate trios in DII all batting .400 or better, delivered back-to-back-to-back base knocks to put the Pioneers up 2-0 in the bottom of the first.
 
Those two runs would be all Malone could muster against Walsh starter Hyatt Shenefield (4-0) who held Malone hitless over the next four innings.
 
The Pioneers gave up a run in the second, three unearned runs in the third, and single runs in the fourth, sixth, and seventh. In his first collegiate start, 
Christian Specht (1-1) struck out two over three innings, allowing four runs (one earned).
 
Noel and 
Ryan Sarbaugh added singles in the sixth.
 
Game Two Recap
The Pioneers fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first before notching their first run on a Walsh fielding error in the bottom of the third. Walsh answered with a two-spot in the top of the fourth to go ahead 5-1.
 
Malone tried to make a game of it in the bottom of the fourth when another Walsh error resulted in two more unearned runs. The Cavaliers responded, however, with three runs in the fifth to break the game open.
 
In a mostly uneventful final four innings that included another Walsh run in the top of the ninth, 
Brenden Wells extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a single in the bottom of the sixth. The senior slugger would single once again in the bottom of the eighth.
 
In the top of the eighth, junior righthander 
Trevor Beerman made his collegiate debut. He went on to work a scoreless frame, recording his first career strikeout in the process.
 
Up Next
Malone will look to get back on track this weekend when they return to G-MAC play with a four-game home series against Kentucky Wesleyan
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