CANTON -- The Malone University baseball team opened up a Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) series with the Ashland University Eagles on Thursday. 

The nine-inning affair turned into a near marathon. The game needed extra innings to decide a winner, and one of those extra innings included a weather delay. 

In the end it was the Eagles (16-9, 9-4 G-MAC) who scored a pair of runs in the top of the thirteenth inning to come away with the 8-6 win over the Pioneers (12-16, 3-8 G-MAC). 

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
After a pair of zeros in the first inning, Ashland got on the scoreboard first with a RBI groundout in the top of the second. 

It did not take long for Malone to answer.

Boston Black led off the bottom of the second with a walk. He advanced to second base on a passed ball, and then came in to score the first Pioneer run of the game on a RBI single by Clayton Criss. 

Michael Cook kept the Eagles off of the scoreboard in their half of the third, and the MU offense went right back to work. 

Evan Balzano and Cameron Martin put together back-to-back one-out singles in the bottom of the third. Jake Aleman then followed with a walk to load the bases. In the very next at bat Black came through with a sacrifice fly to score Balzano, and put the Pioneers up 2-1. 

At that point, the game settled into a stalemate with the pitching staffs on both sides having the upper hand. 

The next three innings went scoreless for both teams. 

Ashland was the first team to break out of the scoring drought. With two outs in the top of the seventh inning the Eagles got a RBI double that plated a pair of runs and put AU on top 3-2. 

Once again however, MU was able to quickly answer. 

Balzano drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh. Martin followed with a double off the left field fence that just missed leaving the ballpark by inches. A couple of batters later Balzano was able to score on a wild pitch by the Eagles to tie the game at 3-3. 

Unfortunately Ashland got that run right back on a safety squeeze bunt in the top of the eighth. 

Andrew Hanna led off the bottom of the eighth for Malone with a single. After he was moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt, JC Philippi's double into left field brought Hanna home to tie the game. Balzano followed that up with a sacrifice fly to score JT Tonelli, who had reached base on a walk prior to Philippi's at bat. 

All told, the Pioneers held a 5-4 advantage headed into the ninth inning. 

Down to their last out in the inning Ashland got a solo home run to tie the game up at 5-5. 

Malone went down in order in the bottom half of the inning, and the game headed to extra innings.

The Eagles used a one-out RBI double in the top of the tenth to take a 6-5 lead. In the ensuing at bat the game was halted due to a torrential downpour of rain. 

After the brief stoppage the teams returned to the field, and Danny Miller was able to retire the next two Ashland batters in order to get out of the jam with limited damage. 

Hanna led off the tenth inning with a single. He advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt, and then moved to third base on a groundout. In JC Philippi's at bat Hanna scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 6-6. 

The ballgame moved through the eleventh and twelfth innings with neither team able to score. 

Ashland plated a pair of runs in the top of the thirteenth on three hits and one MU error. 

The Pioneers brought the game-tying run to the plate in the bottom half of the inning, but Ashland was able to get out of the inning to pick up the 8-6 win.

PIONEER POINTS

• Boston Black reached base safely in five of his six plate appearances. He was 2-3 with one RBI. He also drew three walks. 
• Tyson Gingerich, Cameron Martin, and Andrew Hanna also each had multiple hits on the afternoon for the Pioneers. 
• Malone's pitching staff combined for eleven strikeouts, with starter Michael Cook leading the way with five. 
• Eric Baum pitched three innings of relief. He allowed no earned runs and struck out four batters.
• Malone outhit Ashland 14 to 11, but the Pioneers stranded 17 runners on base.

WHAT'S NEXT?
There will be no game tomorrow due to the inclement weather forecast. 

The series will resume on Saturday with another nine inning game. First pitch from Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium is set for 4:00 p.m.