The Malone University baseball team split a Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) doubleheader with Cedarville University on a chilly Friday afternoon at Jackson High School in its home debut. The Pioneers won the nine-inning opener, 6-2, before suffering a 5-2 defeat in the seven-inning finale. With the split, Malone is now 13-8 on the season and 3-3 in conference play.
 
Game One Recap
After loading the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the first, Malone grabbed an early 2-0 advantage on a sacrifice fly from Todd Ropp and an RBI single by Damian Maglione.
 
The Pioneers made it a 4-0 contest with two more runs in the bottom of the fifth when Maglione delivered another RBI base knock and Andy Fletcher followed with a run-scoring single of his own.
 
Those four runs were plenty of support for starting pitcher Roscoe Blackburn, who produced another outstanding effort on the hill. Blackburn (4-1) surrendered just two hits over seven shutout innings, striking out seven and lowering his season ERA to 1.22. In less than perfect weather conditions, he worked around five free passes, taking advantage of three pickoffs, and he allowed just one Yellow Jacket to reach second base. After tossing an even 100 pitches, he gave way to the bullpen in the eighth.
 
A leadoff homerun by Cedarville cut the deficit to 4-1, but Malone answered with two tallies in the bottom of the inning. A fielding error by the visitors put Malone ahead 5-1 before an RBI single from Ropp upped the lead to 6-1. Cedarville added a run in the ninth, but Jordan Yoder induced a game-ending strikeout to preserve the victory.
 
Maglione, Ropp, and Nate Cobb all had multiple hits for the Pioneers while Cobb and Joe Crank, who reached base four times in the game, each scored twice.
 
Game Two Recap
In a well-pitched nightcap, Malone scored the game's only run over the first five innings when Nate Cobb singled in Jacob Mottice in the bottom of the third.
 
Pioneer starter Joshua Hurford, who cruised through five scoreless frames, ran into trouble in the top of the sixth, allowing back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. A Malone error on the next at-bat led to a three-run outburst for the Yellow Jackets.
 
Hurford (2-1) matched a season-high with nine strikeouts over the six innings, but was charged with his first loss since the 2016 campaign after giving up three unearned runs. In yet another quality start, Hurford lowered his league-leading ERA to 0.57 on the year.
 
Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Malone put two runners on base, but came up empty in the inning. The Jackets then tacked on two runs in the top of the seventh to take a 5-1 lead.
 
Down to its last at-bat, Malone managed a lone run before falling 5-2. Matt Noel reached on a one-out walk and then scored following back-to-back-to-back wild pitches.
 
Nate Cobb and Jacob Mottice each finished with two base hits to lead the offense.
 
Up Next
Malone will play another home doubleheader against Ohio Valley University on Saturday at Jackson High School beginning at 1:00 pm.