The Malone University baseball team will make its fourth straight postseason appearance this week when it travels to Mason, Ohio to compete in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Championship.
 
The Pioneers, 32-16 overall and 18-9 in conference, earned the #2 seed in the North Division. They will meet Ohio Valley, the #3 seed in the South Division, in the first game of the tournament this Wednesday, May 9th. The eight-team, double-elimination tournament will run from May 9-12 at Prasco Park. The complete bracket is available on the Championship webpage.
 
GameDay
5/9 Malone vs. Ohio Valley – 12:00 pm at Legacy Field
Live Video: portal.stretchinternet.com/malone
Live Stats: http://www.athletics.walsh.edu/sports/bsb/tournament/boxscores/20180509_d1uk.xml
Twitter: @BaseballMaloneU
 
What's at Stake?
The winner of the G-MAC Championship earns an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament as of one of eight teams in the Midwest Region. With a win on Wednesday, Malone would take on the winner of Findlay and Kentucky Wesleyan, the defending G-MAC Champions, at 3:15 pm on Thursday. With a loss, Malone would take on the loser of Findlay/Kentucky Wesleyan on Thursday at 12:00 pm.
 
Recent Postseason History
Since joining NCAA Division II in 2012, the Pioneers are 4-6 in postseason play. After suffering a 6-5 loss to Ohio Valley in the opening round of the G-MAC Championship last season, the Pioneers made their way to the final day of the bracket with three victories through the loser's bracket.
 
The Pioneers eventually lost to Kentucky Wesleyan, who were unbeaten in the Tournament, on a walk-off wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th. Malone remains in pursuit of its first conference championship since 2009 when it claimed its second consecutive American Mideast Conference title.
 
Against Ohio Valley
The Pioneers are just 4-5 in nine all-time meetings with the Fighting Scots, but are 4-2 over the last two seasons. Malone bounced back from a first-round loss to eliminate OVU on the second day of the 2017 G-MAC Championship. This season, Malone swept a doubleheader between the two schools in late March.

Team Comparison

Malone	Category	OVU
32-16 (18-9 G-MAC)	Record	20-29 (9-18 G-MAC)
.292	Avg	..250
.394	OBP	.350
6.2	Runs/Gm	4.8
14	HR	12
88	SB	51
4.30	ERA	6.44
1.39	WHIP	1.67
7.6	K/9 IP	7.0

Malone Notes - Roster | Schedule | Stats

• The Pioneers are coming off a 2-1 weekend against Lake Erie, which included a 16-5 win in the regular season finale.
• Catcher Matt Noel went 3-for-4 with two doubles and drove in a career-high six runs in Sunday's win. The junior backstop has been red-hot over the last two weeks hitting a scorching .593 (16-for-27) with eight doubles and 11 RBI over a seven-game hitting streak that includes six multi-hit games.
• Freshman Turner Hill saw his 12-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday, but he still managed to draw two walks and score two runs. On the season, Hill leads the team in average (.357) and OBP (.474) and is third in runs (37) and stolen bases (11). Over his last 13 games, he is hitting .447 with a .536 OBP and 16 runs scored.
• Over the last two weeks, a stretch spanning nine games, junior shortstop Joe Crank is hitting .394 with six extra-base hits and 11 runs scored. On the year, he is batting .292 with a .437 OBP and a team-high .494 slugging percentage. Crank leads the squad in XBH (21), RBI (33), and is second on the team in runs (41).
• Over the same nine games, freshman leftfielder Jacob Mottice is hitting .391. Across his past four games, he has three triples and seven RBI.
• His older brother Zach Mottice, a sophomore second baseman, has reached base in 16 of his last 17 games and has scored 10 runs over the last 12 games. On the season, he is 12th in the G-MAC in OBP (.449) and 5th in stolen bases.
• Sophomore centerfielder Nate Cobb (.415 OBP) leads the G-MAC with 30 steals and is 7th in the league with 43 runs scored.
• First baseman Todd Ropp (.309, 3 HR, 31 RBI), designated hitter Austin White (.306, 2 HR, 27 RBI), and third baseman Damian Maglione (.269, 24 RBI) each have 10 doubles and have thrived in RBI opportunities throughout the season. White leads the G-MAC with five sacrifice flies; Maglione leads the G-MAC with 10 sacrifice bunts.
• As a team, Malone leads the G-MAC in sacrifice bunts (66), stolen bases (88), and walks (222) while ranking second in OBP and third in average. The small ball approach has helped the Pioneer offense rank fourth in the league in scoring.
• The pitching staff is led by a pair of aces in senior Roscoe Blackburn and sophomore Eric Mullet. Malone is a combined 18-3 in the games in which the two have started.
• Blackburn enters the tournament at 8-2 with a 2.25 ERA and a team-high 72 strikeouts in 84 innings pitched. Mullet is 8-0 with a 1.99 ERA with 65 strikeouts in 68 innings pitched. The two are tied for the league-high in wins and are top-2 in the G-MAC in ERA among qualifying pitchers.
• As a staff, Malone is second in ERA and leads the G-MAC in WHIP and shutouts (8). The Pioneers have fell victim to the long ball, however, surrendering a conference-high 39 homeruns. When opponents hit at least one homerun, Malone is just 9-14 on the season.
• Conversely, the Pioneers are 23-2 when not allowing a homerun, 24-2 when they out-hit their opponents, 26-7 when they score first, and 30-1 when leading after six innings.
   

Ohio Valley Notes - Roster | Schedule | Stats

• The Fighting Scots secured the #3 seed in the South Division with a wild walk-off winner in Monday's regular season finale. Prior to taking two out of three from Alderson Broaddus, OVU had lost nine straight.
• Senior outfielder Mitchell Davis (.312, 3 HR, 36 RBI) leads the OVU offense. Davis, who hit the walk-off homer in Monday's 11-9 victory, doubled twice in eight at bats against Malone earlier this spring.
• Senior lefthander Matthew Carey (5-5, 5.00 ERA) is likely to get the start vs. Malone on Wednesday. Carey did not pitch against the Pioneers when the two teams met in March, but he lasted just 2.2 innings while giving up six earned runs to Malone in the elimination game in the 2017 G-MAC Tournament.