The Malone University baseball team begins Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) North Division play with a three-game series against visiting Hillsdale College this weekend at Jackson High School. The Pioneers will host the first-place Chargers in a single nine-inning game on Saturday, April 7th at 5:00 pm before playing a doubleheader on Sunday, April 8th starting at 1:00 pm.

GameDay
4/7 Malone vs. Hillsdale – 5:00 pm
4/8 Malone vs. Hillsdale (DH) – 1:00 pm
Live Stats: portal.stretchinternet.com/malone
Twitter: @BaseballMaloneU
 
Series History
Malone went 6-5 in 11 meetings against Hillsdale while both teams were members of the GLIAC. In the most recent meeting between the two teams, Hillsdale eliminated Malone from the postseason on day three of the 2016 GLIAC Tournament.

Team Comparison

Malone	Category	Hillsdale
19-9 (9-3 G-MAC)	Record	14-15 (11-1 G-MAC)
.285	Avg	.284
.393	OBP	.383
5.9	Runs/Gm	6.4
6	HR	14
61	SB	65
4.11	ERA	5.86
1.29	WHIP	1.71
7.7	K/9 IP	6.3

Malone Notes - Roster | Schedule | Stats

• The Pioneers, who remained in 10th place in this week's NCBWA Midwest Region Poll, are coming off a 4-0 weekend which included doubleheader sweeps of G-MAC South opponents Alderson Broaddus and Davis & Elkins.
• G-MAC North Player of the Week Nate Cobb led the offense in those four games, collecting seven RBI, six hits, five runs, and four stolen bases. Cobb has reached base safely in 27 straight games from his leadoff spot this season and has been on base at least once in 77 of 80 career games.
• Cobb, who is hitting .311 on the year, leads the conference in walks (24) and is second in stolen bases (19), sixth in on-base percentage (.471), and seventh in runs scored (25).
• Junior catcher Matt Noel had a great weekend at the plate, going 6-of-13 (.462) to raise his season average to .280. Noel, a .415 hitter last season, has a modest six-game hitting streak which includes four multi-hit games.
• In 12 G-MAC games, Noel is hitting .333 with a .443 OBP. Over that same span, Austin White is batting a team-high .371 with six extra-base hits, eight runs, and eight RBI.
• Third baseman Damian Maglione and leftfielder Jacob Mottice are each hitting. 333 against conference opponents this season.
• Rightfielder Turner Hill and second baseman Zach Mottice are each hitting .313 in conference. Mottice is reaching base at a .452 clip this season and is third on the team with 20 runs scored. Hill has five RBI in his last five games.
• Shortstop Joe Crank, the team leader in RBI (19) and extra-base hits (13), has four doubles and a triple in his last six games. First baseman Todd Ropp, who owns a .312 batting average on the year, has five runs scored in the same time frame.
• The starting pitching trio of Joshua Hurford (3-1, 0.47 ERA), Roscoe Blackburn (5-1, 0.98 ERA), and Eric Mullet (3-0, 1.46 ERA) has been exceptional this season. All three are expected to take the hill against Hillsdale this weekend.
• Hurford, who has not allowed an earned run in his last 20 innings pitched, ranks third in the nation in ERA and second in WHIP (0.65). With 36 Ks to just three walks over 38.1 total innings, he is also seventh in DII with a 12:1 strikeout to walk ratio. Hurford is 1-0 in his career against Hillsdale, holding the Chargers to one run on three hits as a freshman in 2015.
• Blackburn has surrendered just one earned run over the last 41.1 innings as he has trimmed his ERA to the 14th-lowest in DII and the third-best in the G-MAC. He leads the G-MAC in wins and is tied for the team-lead with 39 strikeouts in 46 innings pitched.
• Eric Mullet has 39 Ks in 37 innings this season, including a career-high 12 strikeouts in his latest outing against Davis & Elkins. He is 4th in the G-MAC and 30th in the country in ERA.
• The Pioneers are 16-2 when they hold their opponents to four or fewer runs and they are 7-1 in eight games at Jackson this season.
   

Hillsdale Notes - Roster | Schedule | Stats

• After starting the season 3-13, including six one-run losses, the Chargers have gone on a tear lately, winning 11 of their last 13 games. In 12 conference games this spring, Hillsdale is averaging 9.2 runs while posting a 3.41 team ERA.
• Defending G-MAC North Pitcher of the Week Will Kruse (3-1, 3.18 ERA) and Andrew Verbrugge (2-4, 3.66 ERA) lead the Charger staff. Kruse recorded 13 strikeouts in a complete game victory over Cedarville his last time out.
• All-Region catcher Steven Ring (.330, 7 HR, 28 RBI) and centerfielder Ryan O'Hearn (.310 avg, 22 SB) lead the Hillsdale offense.