The Malone University baseball team earned a 7-2 victory over Walsh University in the first game of a three-game weekend series Friday afternoon in North Canton. The win improved Malone to 24-13 on the season and 13-6 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The loss dropped the Cavaliers to 19-15 overall and 12-7 in the G-MAC, a game back of Malone.
Recap
After leaving men in scoring position in each of the first two innings, Malone loaded the bases in the top of the third and capitalized on a Walsh fielding error that led to two runs.
An inning later, Malone loaded the bases again and eventually tripled its lead on a two-out grand slam homerun by
Joe Crank. Facing an 0-2 count, Crank battled back to work it full before blasting the 3-2 offering off the Biery Stadium scoreboard in right field. With one swing of the bat, Crank tied his career-high with four RBI.
While the Malone lineup was forcing Walsh starting pitcher Nick Bebout (4-1) into his first loss of the season, Pioneer starter
Roscoe Blackburn (7-2) was brilliant on the mound, allowing just one hit through five and two-thirds.
Blackburn's only blemishes of the afternoon came on back-to-back solo homers with two outs in the sixth. He responded by striking out the final batter of the inning before holding Walsh scoreless in the seventh. The senior lefty, who now leads the G-MAC with seven wins on the year, gave up just four hits while striking out eight over seven strong frames. He gave way to fellow senior
Jordan Yoder in the bottom of the eighth.
Malone tallied its final run of the game in the top of the ninth on an RBI single from
Jacob Mottice. Yoder, who worked a 1-2-3 eighth, shut out the Cavs in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the victory.
Number nine hitter
Zach Mottice led the Pioneer offense with three hits, including two doubles, and two runs scored.
Turner Hill went 3-for-4 with three singles while
Damian Maglione added a double.
Up Next
Malone will close out the series with a doubleheader on Saturday at Walsh beginning at 1:00 pm.
