MASON, Ohio -- The Malone University baseball team traveled to Legacy Field at the Prasco Park Complex in Mason, Ohio to begin a four-game series with West Liberty University on Wednesday. 

Prasco Park will once again serve as the host site for the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Baseball Championship Tournament later this spring. 

The Pioneers (3-1, 0-0 G-MAC) opened up a huge lead in the series opener, and closed the deal late for the 11-7 win. The Hilltoppers (0-6, 0-0 MEC) jumped out in front in the second game, but Malone was able to come from behind to earn a 7-5 victory. 

Game 1 Highlights
The Pioneers served as the home team on the scoreboard, which gave Danny Miller the opportunity to toe the rubber first. 

The southpaw tossed a scoreless top of the first inning, striking out the second and third batters of the game to give Malone's offense a chance to score first. 

The Pioneers eventually did take advantage of that opportunity, but it would not be until the second inning. 

JC Philippi was hit by a pitch to open up the bottom of the second. He advanced to third base on Boston Black's double into right center. Both players came in score on a ball that Andrew Hanna put into play which put Malone up 2-0. 

The Hilltoppers responded with a two-run home run in the top of the third to tie the game, but the Pioneers went right back to work in their half of the inning. 

JT Tonelli led off the bottom of the third with a single. Later on in the inning, both he and Cameron Martin were brought home when Evan Balzano laced a double to left center. Philippi followed up Balzano's at-bat with a two-bagger of his own to score Balzano and give Malone a 5-2 lead. 

After Miller worked around a hit batter in the top of the fourth, the Pioneers really started to break the game open in the bottom half. 

Hanna and Tyson Gingerich notched back-to-back singles to open up the inning. They were both brought home on a two-out single by Balzano that put the Pioneers on top 7-2. 

Miller retired West Liberty in order in the fifth, and Malone essentially put the game out of reach in their half of the inning. 

Hanna and Gingerich each recorded RBIs to make it 9-2 Malone after five full innings of play. 

West Liberty's offense came alive in the sixth, scoring four runs on just one hit, to cut the lead down to 9-6, but the Pioneers answered right back. 

In the bottom of the sixth inning Philippi and Black both put RBIs on the board to stretch Malone's lead back out to 11-6. 

The Hilltoppers plated one run in the top of the seventh, but Eric Baum was able to work out of trouble to close the door on the 11-7 win. 

Game 2 Highlights
After West Liberty jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the top of the first, it took a couple of innings for the Pioneers to climb back. 

MU scratched across a run in the bottom of the first when Tonelli swiped home as part of a double-steal, but the offense was relatively quiet until the later innings. 

In the fourth, the Pioneers made it 4-2 when Martin scored on a RBI single by Cole Maley. 

Momentum really started to shift in the fifth however. 

After Tonelli reached to lead off the inning, he was immediately brought home by a Cameron Martin triple. Balzano followed with a sacrifice fly to score Martin and tie the game at 4-4. 

Mitch Maurer entered from the bullpen in the top of the sixth inning, and worked around a leadoff walk to keep the game scoreless. 

Malone's offense came through in the bottom half of the inning to give the Pioneers their first lead of the game. 

Jaxon Snyder reached on a hit by pitch to lead off the inning. He later scored on a JT Tonelli single. Evan Swan was brought home on Jake Aleman's single to make it 6-4, and Malone went ahead 7-4 on another perfectly executed double steal that allowed Tonelli to score. 

The Hilltoppers plated just one run in the top of the seventh, as Maurer worked out of a bases loaded jam to close out the 7-5 win.


PIONEER POINTS

• Danny Miller struck out seven batters over five full innings to pick up the win in game one. He allowed just three hits, and only two earned runs. 
• Boston Black went 3-4 at the plate in the opener. He scored two runs, and also had one RBI. 
• Evan Balzano finished with five total RBIs on the day, four of those came in game one.
• Mitch Maurer struck out three batters over two innings in game two to pick up his first win of the season.

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Pioneers and Hilltoppers will return to Prasco Park tomorrow to conclude the series with another doubleheader. 

Due to inclement weather in the area, first-pitch of game one has been moved up to 10:00 a.m.