The Malone University baseball team improved to 15-8 on the season and 5-3 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) with a doubleheader sweep of visiting Ohio Valley University Saturday afternoon at Massillon Jackson High School. The Pioneers received a complete game gem from Eric Mullet in the opener as they pulled out a 3-1 nine-inning victory. They then earned an 8-4 win over the Fighting Scots in game two to complete the Saturday sweep.
 
Game One Recap
The two teams traded zeros through the first four and a half innings until the Pioneers finally broke through for two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Austin White drove in the first run on an RBI double that just missed the glove of a diving left fielder. White scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly from Clay Wisner to make it a 2-0 game.
 
Pioneer starting pitcher Eric Mullet was dominant all game surrendering just base four base hits, all singles. He struck out six and did not allow a walk as he improved to 2-0 on the season. Two of those hits came in the top of the sixth when, following a balk, the Fighting Scots plated their only run of the game on an RBI groundout. Mullet bounced back and retired the final 10 batters he faced as he finished with a complete game in a career-high nine innings.
 
Malone added a run of insurance in the bottom of the sixth when White doubled in another run to make it a 3-1 contest. White finished with three of Malone's five hits in the game, including the two doubles, while Matt Noel scored twice.
 
Game Two Recap
Ohio Valley gained an early 1-0 advantage in the top of the first, coming in to score on a wild pitch by freshman starting pitcher Clay Cooper. That run would be the only one allowed by Cooper (3-1), who struck out three in four innings of work.
 
Malone gave Cooper four runs of support in the bottom half of the fourth before he exited in the top of the fifth.  A bases-loaded single by Austin White plated two runs before a sacrifice fly by Jacob Mottice and an RBI double by Nate Cobb made it a 4-1 ball game.
 
The Scots made it a 4-2 contest in the top of the sixth, but the Pioneers responded with four more runs in the bottom of the frame. Pinch-runner Dyllan West scored on a wild pitch to make 5-2 before Cobb chased home another run with an RBI groundout. An OVU error led to two more runs as the Pioneers led 8-2 heading into the top of the seventh.
 
The Scots added two tallies in their last at-bat, but it was far from enough as Malone secured the 8-4 triumph.
 
White, Matt Noel, and Joe Crank all recorded multi-hit games for the Pioneers. White and Cobb each finished with two RBI.
 
Up Next
Malone is scheduled to visit nationally-ranked Mercyhurst for a nine-inning game on Tuesday, March 27th beginning at 2:00 pm.