The Malone University baseball team improved to 5-1 on the season by winning two out of three games against West Liberty University in a non-conference series at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio.
 
Follow a weather suspension in the fourth inning of a 9-inning game on Friday, the Pioneers and Hilltoppers played 19 total innings on Saturday. West Liberty prevailed 7-4 in the opener before Malone swept the regularly-scheduled doubleheader, 7-5 & 5-2 late Saturday night. Statistics and boxscores were finalized on Sunday afternoon.
 
Game One Recap (WLU 7, Malone 4)
The Hilltoppers pounded out 16 total hits, including nine over the first four innings on Friday, and jumped out to a 7-1 lead by the seventh inning. Malone plated three runs in the eighth on RBI singles from Nate Cobb and Joe Crank, but the Pioneers went down in order in the ninth.
 
Cobb added a run to his RBI single and Turner Hill doubled and scored a run. Clyde Yoder (1-1) suffered his first loss of the season after giving up four unearned runs.
 
Game Two Recap (Malone 7, West Liberty 5)
Eric Mullet, the reigning G-MAC Pitcher of the Week, picked up his first win of the season. He struck out six in six scoreless innings. WLU scored five runs all with two outs in the bottom of the seventh before Clay Cooper finally closed the door with a game-ending strikeout to earn save number one the season.
 
Malone scored two runs in the top of the first on RBI singles by Jordan Hite and Clay Wisner. Tyson Gingerich drove in three with a bases-clearing tripe in the sixth. Nate Cobb stole third and scored on error and Wisner added a sacrifice fly to account for two runs in the seventh.
 
Cobb singled, doubled, and scored two runs in the contest. Gingerich collected two base hits.
 
Game Three Recap (Malone 5, West Liberty 2)
Malone received a sterling pitching performance from Tommy Walker, who posted a career-high eight strikeouts over six innings of two-run ball. Clay Cooper struck out two in the top of the seventh to earn his second save of the day.
 
After falling behind 2-0 in the first, Malone tallied a run in the second on an RBI single from Turner Hill. Two more came across in the fourth on a wild pitch and an RBI single from Joe Crank. Cobb drove in a run with an RBI fielder's choice and later scored on a steal and a throwing error.
 
The Pioneer offense collected eight hits, all singles, and forced the issue in the basepaths swiping eight bases. Cobb stole three bags and scored twice. Turner Hill registered three hits and a stolen base while Crank and Gingerich, who singled twice and scored twice, each stole two bases.
 
Up Next
Malone begins its spring break trip in Winter Park, Florida against Rollins College this Thursday, March 5th.