FINDLAY, Ohio -- The Malone University baseball program opened up the Great Midwest Athletic Conference portion of their schedule on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader at the University of Findlay.

It took extra innings, but the Pioneers (7-2, 2-0 G-MAC) scored a 6-5 win in game one. In game two Malone got strong pitching from both Clay Cooper and Chase Jessee, and picked up a 3-0 shutout win over the Oilers (2-7, 0-2 G-MAC).

Game 1 Highlights
Findlay came out swinging early on. The Oilers plated a pair of runs in the 1st inning to take a 2-0 lead. 

Cooper Davies entered from the bullpen to begin the 2nd, and he quieted Findlay's bats for much of his entire outing. 

The Pioneer offense got on the board in the top of the 3rd when Jake Aleman doubled to bring home Andrew Hanna and make it a 2-1 game. 

Davies only allowed two Oiler runners to reach base from the bottom of the 3rd through the bottom of the 7th. 

In the top of the 8th inning Malone appeared to break the game open with a three spot. With the bases full of Pioneers Joe Watts hit a double into left field to clear the bases and give Malone a 4-2 lead. 

Unfortunately Findlay finally got to Davies in their half of the 8th. The Oilers scored two runs on two hits to tie the game at 4-4. 

The Pioneers went down in order in the 9th, and Danny Miller was called upon to pitch in the bottom of the inning. He worked around a single to keep Findlay scoreless and send the game into extra innings. 

In the top of the 10th Malone loaded the bases with only one out. Evan Balzano and Hanna both drew RBI walks to give the Pioneers a 6-4 lead. 

Findlay threatened in their half of the inning, scoring one run on a RBI single, but Miller fanned the last two batters of the game to secure the 6-5 win for Malone.


Game 2 Highlights
In the second game of the doubleheader it was the Pioneer offense that came out strong. In the top of the 1st Joe Crank laced a double into the the right center gap to score Tyson Gingerich and give Malone a 1-0 lead.

That actually would have been all the pitching staff needed. Clay Cooper got the start on the mound, and he turned in 5.1 strong innings to earn his first victory of the season. He struck out eight batters. 

Chase Jessee relieved Cooper in the bottom of the 6th. He allowed zero hits over the final 1.2 innings to pick up his first save of the season.

The offense did provide a couple of insurance runs. Jake Aleman picked up a sacrifice fly in the 5th, scoring Bryan Yoder. In the top of the 7th Yoder scored again to make it 3-0.

Jessee retired the final three batters in order to polish off the victory.

PIONEER POINTS

• Jake Aleman had a strong afternoon at the plate. In game one he was 3-4, scored two runs, and had one RBI.

• JC Philippi finished the afternoon with three hits. He scored a pair of runs in game one.

• This is the first 2-0 start to conference play for the Pioneers since 2018 when they swept a doubleheader from Kentucky Wesleyan.

• 7-2 is the best start to a season for Malone since 2015 when the Pioneers won eight out of their first eleven games.

WHAT'S NEXT?
These two teams will return to Fifth Third Field at the Marathon Diamonds complex tomorrow afternoon to wrap up the weekend series with another doubleheader. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.