Clyde Yoder pitched eight shutout innings as the top-seeded Malone University baseball team opened the 2019 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship with a 2-0 victory over eight seed Alderson Broaddus University on Wednesday afternoon at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio.
 
The Pioneers advanced to take on Kentucky Wesleyan College in the second game of the day, but were upended 12-1 in seven innings, falling into the loser's bracket. Through 50 games this season, Malone is 33-17.  
 
Malone, which was slotted seventh in the latest edition of the Midwest Region Rankings on Wednesday, will now need to win five straight games to capture the G-MAC Championship.
 
Malone vs. Alderson Broaddus Recap
Clyde Yoder, who was named G-MAC Honorable Mention All-Conference on Tuesday night, was sensational in his collegiate postseason debut. The redshirt sophomore peppered the edges of the strike zone all afternoon and was effective out of the zone, yielding four walks, but only two hits (a first-inning double and a fifth-inning single) over eight scoreless frames.  He threw 124 pitches and struck out seven batters as he improved to 8-3 on the season.
 
Offensively, Malone scored its first run of the game in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of an AB error and a bunt single before a double-play ball chased home a run. The Pioneers tacked on an important insurance run in the seventh when Zach Mottice delivered a triple to deep center and later scored on a bloop single by Turner Hill over a drawn-in infield.
 
First Team All-Conference reliever Clay Cooper worked a scoreless ninth to earn his G-MAC leading ninth save of the year. Austin White and Bryan Yoder each produced two hits to lead the Malone lineup.
 
Malone vs. Kentucky Wesleyan Recap
After going up 2-0 with runs in each of the first two innings, Kentucky Wesleyan broke the game wide open with 10 runs over the fourth, fifth, and sixth frames.
 
Malone scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the sixth before the 10-run mercy rule was put in effect after seven.  Matt Noel singled and later scored on Clay Wisner's two-out single into right center.
 
Wisner collected two of the Pioneers' four hits against KWC starter Chris Johnson, who struck out 10 batters in the complete game effort. Eric Mullet (7-4), who totaled five strikeouts in five innings, was saddled with the loss.
 
Up Next
Malone is scheduled to face Ohio Dominican in a loser's bracket elimination game on Thursday at 10:00 am at Prasco Park.