After fending off elimination in each of its last three games, the Malone University baseball team suffered a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to Kentucky Wesleyan College Saturday afternoon in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship in Mason, Ohio. The Pioneers, who tied it up at 4-4 with one out in the top of the ninth, saw their season come to a crashing halt on a walk-off wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th.
 
Malone (35-18) finished the campaign as the G-MAC regular season and Tournament runner-up. The Pioneers' 35 wins was the seventh highest total in the 55 year history of the program and their highest in a single season since joining the NCAA in 2012.
 
Kentucky Wesleyan (27-22) earned its first-ever G-MAC Championship, advancing through the double-elimination bracket unscathed to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
 
Recap
Needing a victory to force a winner-take-all contest on Saturday evening, Malone fell behind 1-0 in the bottom of the third on a bases-loaded groundout. Making his first postseason start, freshman Kyle Kovach worked his way out of a jam to escape any additional damage.
 
In the top half of the fourth, the Pioneers answered back with three runs to take their first lead of the day. G-MAC Player of the Year Keanan Locke doubled in a run to give Malone its first tallyof the ball game. He would later score on a suicide squeeze play from Damian Maglione. Not even a pitch later, Malone scored once again on a Kentucky Wesleyan balk to make it a 3-1 game.
 
After working a scoreless bottom of the fourth, Kovach ran into some trouble following a pair of singles and a costly Malone throwing error that loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth. A five pitch walk forced in a Panther run and ended the frosh's day. A four-pitch walk on the next KWC batter tied the contest up at 3-3 before Jordan Yoder was able get Malone out of the inning.
 
Yoder would work a scoreless sixth before giving up a run in the seventh on a two-out double. Down 4-3, Malone turned to closer Gunnar Smeyres, who threw 45 pitches in Friday night's 1-0 win over Trevecca Nazarene. The senior righty battled through a seven-pitch at-bat before coaxing a ground ball out to end the threat.
 
Down to their last six outs, the Pioneers went down in order in the top of the eighth before Smeyres tossed a scoreless bottom half to keep Malone within one.
 
Representing the tying run, Malone catcher Tom Eslich singled to shallow center to lead off the ninth and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Representing the go-ahead run, Nate Cobb moved Eslich over to third with a single up the middle.
 
With one out and runners on the corners, head coach Tom Crank dialed up the suicide squeeze play just as he had in the ninth inning of Friday's victory and the third inning of Saturday's game. After taking a strike, Joe Crank laid down the perfect squeeze bunt in front of home plate to score Eslich. The Pioneers, however, failed to drive in the go-ahead run, popping up twice in the infield before heading to the bottom of the ninth all squared at 4-4.
 
The game looked like it would soon be over when Kentucky Wesleyan catcher Josh Galvan tripled off the right field wall to leadoff the inning. But a spectacular effort from Gunnar Smeyres and the Malone defense would keep the Panthers off the board.  A diving stop on a ground ball to second baseman Zach Mottice kept Galvan on third with one out. Following an intentional walk, Smeyres himself made a shoestring grab on a ground ball to retire the next out. Centerfielder Nate Cobb then got in on the act, making a game-saving diving catch on a shallow line drive to force extra innings.
 
Second Team All-Conference pitcher Ryan Hundley needed just three pitches to retire Malone in order in the top of the 10th before Smeyres returned to the hill in the bottom half. Smeyres battled through another lengthy at-bat to retire the leadoff man on a fly ball to left. An infield single on a bang-bang play at first put the winning run on base with one out. After throwing his 54th pitch of the day and 99th in less than 24 hours, Smeyres was relieved in favor of G-MAC Pitcher of the Year Roscoe Blackburn.
 
Blackburn quickly got himself into trouble, allowing a single to right that moved the winning run to third base. With runners on the corners, Blackburn came up with a huge second out on a swing-and-a-miss strikeout by Galvan. Blackburn's next pitch, though, got away from him and bounced to the back stop. Eslich's throw to home was too late as Kentucky Wesleyan's Nate Stemle scored the game-winner in front of a dejected Blackburn at the plate.
 
An exhilarated KWC squad mobbed Stemle behind home plate as a disappointed Malone team walked off in disbelief.
 
Malone finished the day with seven hits, three of which came from Keanan Locke playing his final collegiate game. The senior, who already set the Malone's career doubles mark, doubled twice more on Saturday to finish the year with 20, one shy of the single-season record.
 
He was joined by Smeyres, Ryan Sarbaugh, Brenden Wells, and Jordan Knight as the five Malone seniors to play their final game on Saturday.