CANTON -- The Malone University baseball team kicked off this weekend's Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) series by hosting a doubleheader with crosstown rival Walsh University on Friday. 

The Pioneers (9-13, 1-5 G-MAC) dropped both games of the twinbill against the Cavaliers (7-8, 5-4 G-MAC) by identical 8-3 scores. 

Game 1 Highlights
After Walsh opened up the scoring with one run in the top of the first inning, Malone quickly answered. 

Tyson Gingerich doubled to lead off the bottom of the inning. Just one batter later a single by Cameron Martin allowed Gingerich to score the game-tying run. 

After the rocky first inning, starting pitcher Michael Cook settled into a bit of a groove. He kept the Cavaliers off of the scoreboard for three straight innings, and Malone's offense went back to work in the bottom of the fourth. 

Evan Balzano drew a leadoff walk, and JC Philippi reached on a Cavalier throwing error. With two outs in the inning Clayton Criss came through with a two-RBI double into left field to put the Pioneers up 3-1. 

Unfortunately, those were the last MU runs of the game. 

Walsh scored the final seven runs of the game unanswered to grab the 8-3 win. 

Game 2 Highlights
In the second game of the afternoon it was the Pioneers who struck first. 

Once again Gingerich led off the bottom of the first with a double. This time he stole third base, and then was brought home on a Cameron Martin sacrifice fly. 

After being held in check for the opening two innings, Walsh broke through for five runs on seven hits in the top of the third to grab a 5-1 lead.

The Pioneers answered back with a RBI double by Jake Aleman in the fifth, but the Cavaliers scored three more runs of their own in the sixth. 

MU tallied a run on a Walsh error in the bottom of the sixth, but the early deficit was too much to overcome as the Cavaliers held on for the 8-3 win.


PIONEER POINTS

• Tyson Gingerich was 4-8 on the day at the plate. Two of his hits went for extra-bases, and he also scored a pair of runs. 
• Clayton Criss and Evan Balzano were the only other Pioneer players with multiple hits. 
• With four strikeouts in game one, Michael Cook's season total now stands at a team-leading 28.

WHAT'S NEXT?
The two teams return to Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium tomorrow afternoon to wrap up the season series with another doubleheader. 

First pitch in game one is set for 1:30 p.m.