CANTON, Ohio -- The Malone University baseball program kicked off this weekend's Great Midwest Athletic Conference series with Hillsdale College with a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. 

Both games were back-and-forth, but in the end the Chargers (11-7, 7-3 G-MAC) strung together just enough late inning hits to come away with the doubleheader sweep of the Pioneers (7-10, 2-8 G-MAC).

Game 1 Highlights
Clay Cooper worked around a base hit to strike out the side in the top of the 1st. 

The Malone offense immediately went to work on some run support in the bottom half of the inning. 

With one out Joe Crank beat the Hillsdale shift for a double. Later in the inning Crank and Joe Watts executed a perfect double steal to put the Pioneers up 1-0. With Watts and Jake Aleman in scoring position Bryan Yoder singled. Both runs came in to score to make it a 3-0 Malone advantage. 

In the top of the 3rd the Chargers plated a pair of runs on four hits and one MU error to pull within one run at 3-2. 

In their half of the inning Malone battled to get one of those runs back. Aleman came through with a RBI single to score JC Philippi and push the Pioneers' lead out to 4-2. 

Hillsdale scratched across one run in the 4th, and another run in the 6th inning to tie the game. 

The score was still tied at 4-4 heading into the 9th inning. In the top half the Chargers immediately loaded the bases. The next two batters stuck out, and the Pioneers appeared poised to get out the inning unscathed. 

Unfortunately three consecutive RBI walks put Hillsdale on top 7-4. 

Malone's offense could not answer in the bottom of the 9th, and the Chargers took the opening game of the series. 


Game 2 Highlights
JC Philippi's RBI double to score Tyson Gingerich gave Malone a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning. 

Hillsdale responded with two runs of their own in the 2nd. The Pioneers answered right back in their half of the 2nd inning however. 

Yoder led off the inning with a single. He then stole second base, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Stone King came through with a RBI single to tie the game at 2-2. After a sacrifice bunt from Anthony Sinicropi put two runners in scoring position, Gingerich laced a single to left field to clear the bases and give Malone a 4-2 lead. 

Cooper Davies kept Hillsdale off the scoreboard in the 3rd, and the Pioneers' offense added to their advantage in the bottom half. 

With King and Aleman on base, Joe Gallo single to right-center which gave Malone a 6-2 lead. 

Unfortunately for the Pioneers the advantage did not last long. In the top of the 4th inning the Chargers scored five runs on three hits and two Malone errors to move ahead 7-6. 

Down to their last three outs in the 7th inning Malone found a way to extend the game. 

Joe Watts drew a one-out walk. Aleman followed with a double to put a pair of runner's in scoring position. Bryan Yoder picked up the game-tying RBI with a sacrifice fly, and the game headed for extra innings tied 7-7. 

Malone had the game-winning run on third base in the bottom of the 10th, but Hillsdale was able to skate out of trouble. 

In the top of the 11th Hillsdale took a 10-7 lead on three hits and two MU errors. 

The Chargers struck out the side in the bottom of the 11th to complete the doubleheader sweep.


PIONEER POINTS

• In game one Clay Cooper, Michael Cook and Danny Miller combined to strike out 14 batters. Cooper led the way with seven to push his season total out to 37. That number is second-best in the entire G-MAC. 

• In game two Mitch Maurer totaled a career-high 10 Ks. He also improved his season-ERA to 1.13

• Tyson Gingerich was 4-6 at the plate in game two. He now leads the team with 21 hits on the season. That ranks top-10 in the G-MAC. Joe Gallo also had a four-hit game for Malone.

• As a team the Pioneers totaled a season-high 18 hits. That is the most hits by a Malone baseball team since the Pioneers had 19 in an 18-3 win over Davis & Elkins in March of 2019.

WHAT'S NEXT?
These two teams will wrap up the series with another doubleheader tomorrow afternoon. First pitch from Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium is set for 12:00 p.m.