The Malone University baseball team opened up Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) play with a doubleheader sweep of defending G-MAC Champion Kentucky Wesleyan College Friday afternoon in Nashville, Tennessee. Malone won the nine-inning opener 9-1 before shutting out the Panthers 4-0 in the seven-inning game two.
 
The Pioneers once again received a pair of stellar pitching performances from their two aces as Roscoe Blackburn and Joshua Hurford combined to hold the league's top-slugging team to just nine hits over the two games. The two victories improved the Pioneers to 12-5 on the season and 12-1 in their last 13 outings.
 
Game One Recap
While Pioneer starter Roscoe Blackburn (3-1) was doing what he does best, pitching shutout innings, Malone grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of third. An RBI bunt single from Zach Mottice on a squeeze play plated the game's first run. Mottice came in to score on an RBI double by Joe Crank one batter later. Crank's two-bagger, at the time, was the seventh in his last 12 at bats.
 
Blackburn made his only mistake of the game in bottom of the fourth, surrendering a leadoff homerun to the Panthers' Ostin Clark to snap a string of 22.1 consecutive scoreless frames. The senior lefthander bounced back to retire 13 of the next 15 batters he faced before walking off with a big lead in the bottom of the eighth. Blackburn allowed just four hits and two walks while striking out seven in his third straight quality start.
 
The Malone offense gave Blackburn five runs of support during the fifth and six innings. With runners on second and third in the fifth, a KWC throwing error followed by a balk gave the Pioneers a 4-1 advantage.
 
In the sixth, a two-run double by junior designated hitter Austin White increased the lead to 6-1. White would later cross the plate on another Panther balk.
 
A pair of RBI groundouts by Crank and Matt Noel in the top of the ninth accounted for the rest of the scoring. Relief pitcher Christian Specht, who replaced Blackburn with one out in the eighth, worked a 1-2-3 ninth to finish off Malone's first G-MAC win of 2018.
 
Noel, Todd Ropp, and Turner Hill each delivered two hits to lead the Pioneer offense. Nate Cobb reached base four times, on three walks and a single, and scored twice.
 
Game Two Recap
Facing G-MAC South Pitcher of the Week Sammy Holder, the Pioneers generated all the offense they would need in the top of the first on some aggressive baserunning from Turner Hill. Hill, attempting to score from second on a Malone groundout, forced a KWC throwing error by a rushed first baseman before touching home and giving the Pioneers a 1-0 lead.
 
That lone run was enough for Joshua Hurford, who spun his second complete game shutout of the season to lower his league-leading ERA to 0.71. Hurford gave up just five hits, all singles, and no walks in another dominant effort on the mound. The senior righty struck out four over seven innings and retired the last 10 batters he faced as Malone improved to 11-2 in games in which he has started over the last two seasons.
 
The Pioneer bats gave Hurford an insurance run on a sacrifice fly from Joe Crank in the top of the third before tacking on two more runs in the top of the sixth. A squeeze bunt by Todd Ropp preceded a pinch-hit RBI single by Jacob Mottice that put Malone up 4-0.
 
Turner Hill and Damian Maglione recorded four of the Pioneers' seven hits.
 
Up Next
The Pioneers will remain in Nashville to take on Trevecca Nazarene on Saturday in a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 pm ET (12:00 pm CT).