MASON, Ohio -- This week the Malone University baseball team opened up their 2021 season at the same site where they hope to achieve one of their team goals two months from now. 

The Pioneers played a three-game series against West Liberty University at the first-class facility of Prasco Park. That same location will be the host site for the 2021 Great Midwest Baseball Championships later in May. 

First things first though, the Pioneers (3-0) picked up three wins to sweep the season-opening series from the Hilltoppers (0-3). 

Malone picked up a 6-3 Opening Day win on Tuesday, and then capped off the series with two wins in Wednesday's doubleheader by final scores of 2-1 and 13-2. 

Tuesday Highlights - Opening Day
Tommy Walker got the nod as the Opening Day starter on the mound for the Pioneers, and he turned in five strong innings of work. The redshirt senior scattered three hits, and allowed just one earned run to score. He also struck out three batters. That effort earned him the first win of the season.

Offensively, Tyson Gingerich, Joe Crank and Jake Aleman each had a pair of hits for Malone. Meanwhile Evan Balzano had a team-leading two RBIs.

The Pioneers scored the first five runs of the game before the Hilltoppers answered with two runs in their half of the 5th inning. Malone added an insurance run in the top of the 9th, and was able to hold off West Liberty's late comeback threat for the 6-3 win.

Freshman southpaw Cooper Davies made his collegiate debut. He pitched 3.2 innings and struck out four.

Sophomore Danny Miller was called upon to enter the game in the bottom of the 9th after the Hilltoppers had already plated one run and still had the bases loaded. Miller was able to induce a ground ball that ended the game and nailed down his first save of the season.

Wednesday Highlights - Game One
Malone and West Liberty returned to Legacy Field at Prasco Park on Wednesday to conclude their series with a doubleheader.

This time it was WLU that struck first, scoring a run in the top of the 2nd inning without recording a hit. That would be all the Hilltoppers would manage offensively in the 7 inning affair however.

The Pioneers answered right back in the 3rd. Bryan Yoder got things going with a leadoff single. Boston Black and Tyson Gingerich followed with base hits of their own to load the bases for Malone. 

Andrew Hanna brought in the tying run on a sacrifice fly, and Black scored the go ahead run on a wild pitch during the at bat of Evan Balzano. 

That would prove to be all of the offense for either team in the game as the Pioneer pitching staff went to work on protecting the one-run advantage. 

Starter Clyde Yoder pitched the first four innings. He allowed just one hit and the one earned run. With Malone leading 2-1 Michael Cook entered the game in the top of the 5th inning. He pitched the final three innings, striking out a pair of batters to earn his first save of the season. 

Wednesday Highlights - Game Two
The final game of the series featured many more offensive fireworks for the Pioneers. 

After Clay Cooper retired the side in order in the top of the 1st, the first three Malone batters of the game reached to lead off the bottom half of the inning. Gingerich singled, Hannah walked, and Crank singled which brought home Gingerich for the game's first run. Hanna would later come around to score on a RBI groundout by Joe Watts to give the Pioneers an early 2-0 lead. 

Cooper worked around a walk in the top of the 2nd, and the Malone offense broke the game wide open in their half of the inning. This time around the first five Pioneer batters of the inning reached safely before WLU recorded an out. All told Malone sent 12 men to the plate, and scored five more runs on four hits and two West Liberty errors. 

Gingerich and Hanna both had RBIs in the inning for the Pioneers. 

That 7-0 cushion would have been plenty good enough for Malone's pitchers as Cooper and James Kontur combined to allow just one hit all afternoon long. 

The Pioneers plated four more runs in the third inning, including a two-RBI triple by shortstop Joe Crank. Aleman and JC Philippi also had RBIs in that inning to help give Malone an 11-0 lead. 

The Hilltoppers did their damage in the 4th inning, but both of their runs were set up by three hit batters and one walk. A two-out RBI single from WLU made it 11-2 going into the bottom of the 4th. 

Malone immediately got those two runs back in their half of the inning, and Kontur pitched a three-up, three-down top of the 5th that included a pair of strikeouts to close out the 13-2, run-rule win for the Pioneers. 

PIONEER POINTS

• As a staff, the Malone pitchers held West Liberty to just a .108 batting average in the series. The Pioneers allowed just 7 hits in 65 at bats. They struck out 18 batters, and finished the three games with a 2.14 ERA.

• Batting in the leadoff spot in all three contests, Tyson Gingerich was a catalyst for Malone's offense in all three games. He finished the series with six runs scored. He was also 4-9 at the plate and drew three walks. 

• Joe Crank's four RBIs led the team in run production. He was also tied for the team-lead in hits along with Gingerich, Boston Black, and Jake Aleman. 

• The Pioneers had a distinct advantage when it came to running the bases. Malone swiped 11 bags in the series, while the pitching staff and Bryan Yoder, who caught all 21 innings behind the plate in the series, held the Hilltoppers to just three total steals.