NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- The Malone University baseball program closed out the regular season portion of the 2021 season on Saturday with a doubleheader at cross-town rival Walsh University.

Helped by another strong outing on the mound from Tommy Walker and some timely hitting, the Pioneers (20-20, 14-18 G-MAC) took game one 6-2.

In game two the Cavaliers (26-12, 22-10 G-MAC), aided by the homerun ball, rallied back to take the series with a 9-6 win.


Game 1 Highlights
In a similar fashion to yesterday's doubleheader, the Malone offense helped the Pioneers jump out to an early lead.

Joe Crank laced a double down the left field line, and Jake Aleman immediately brought him home on a RBI single. Joe Watts and JC Philippi followed Aleman with singles of their own to load the bases. Evan Balzano came through with a RBI sacrifice fly to score Aleman and put Malone up 2-0 after just the top of the first. 

Tommy Walker hurled a scoreless bottom of the first inning, but the Cavaliers used a solo homerun to get on the scoreboard in the second. 

From that point the game settled into a bit of a pitcher's duel. Both sides had scoring chances, but neither team was able to capitalize. 

That all changed in the top of the sixth inning when the Pioneers really broke the game open. 

With one out in the inning Philippi homered to right field. It was his fourth of the season, and gave Malone a 3-1 lead. The Pioneers were not done there however. Evan Balzano followed with a single, and then Bryan Yoder crushed a ball over the left field fence to put MU up 5-1. The Pioneers added one more run on a RBI double by Tyson Gingerich to score Clayton Criss. All told Malone scored four runs on five hits in the inning to take a 6-1 lead. 

Walsh tried to answer back in their half of the sixth. The Cavaliers led off the inning with another solo homerun, but Walker shut them down from there. He capped off the inning with two more strikeouts and a fly-out to keep it at 6-2. 

Eric Mullet entered from the bullpen to pitch the seventh inning, in what was his first appearance since March 14. He struck out the first two batters he faced, and then got a groundout to polish off the 6-2 win.


Game 2 Highlights
Just like they had in the prior three games of the series, Malone took an early lead. This time it was Gingerich coming in to score on a Cavalier fielding error in the top of the first. 

Walsh got the run right back in the bottom half of the inning, and then took a 2-1 lead on a RBI single in the second. 

The Pioneers fought back to retake the lead in the top of the third. MU took advantage of a couple Walsh defensive miscues, and Crank and Philippi each scored runs to put Malone up 3-2. 

That advantage would not last long however as the Cavaliers tied the game back up with another RBI single in the bottom of the third inning. 

Walsh broke the tie with a three-run homerun in the bottom of the fifth. Another solo shot in the fifth, and a two-run homerun in the sixth gave the Cavaliers a 9-3 lead. 

Evan Balzano doubled home Joe Watts in the seventh. Balzano picked up two more RBIs in the ninth, but in the end the Walsh lead was too much to overcome as the Cavaliers held on for a 9-6 win. 


PIONEER POINTS

• Clayton Criss had the first multi-hit game of his career in game one. The sophomore catcher was two for three, and scored one run. 

• Three RBIs by Evan Balzano in game two give him 20 on the season. He is now one of five Pioneer players who have driven in at least 20 runs this season. 

• Tyson Gingerich had another stolen base. He ends the regular season second in the G-MAC with 30 stolen bases this season.

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Pioneers have officially secured a bid into next week's Great Midwest Baseball Championship Tournament at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio. The tournament is set to begin on Wednesday. The finalized bracket will be released this weekend.