HILLSDALE, Mich. -- The 2022 season came to an end for the Malone University baseball team on Saturday afternoon.
The Pioneers (18-32, 9-23) picked up a 4-2 win in a game that was resumed after rain halted play yesterday. However, the next two games of the regularly scheduled doubleheader went the way of the Chargers (22-26, 14-18 G-MAC) by final scores of 6-5 and 9-1.
Malone ends the regular season outside of the top six teams in the G-MAC standings. Those top six teams advance to play in next week's Great Midwest Baseball Championship Tournament at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio.
Game 1 Highlights
The Pioneers entered the day leading the game 1-0. Malone got a run yesterday on a Hillsdale error before the game was halted in the third inning due to rain.
When the contest was resumed this morning, MU was able to push their lead out to 2-0 on
Tyson Gingerich's sacrifice fly.
Unfortunately the Chargers answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game up.
The game settled into a lull offensively in the middle innings, but Malone's bats came back to life late in the game.
In the top of the seventh inning, with the bases full of Pioneers,
Evan Swan singled into right center to plate both
Jaxon Snyder and
Tyson Gingerich.
Cooper Davies, who began Saturday's resumption on the mound, worked around a pair of base runners in the bottom of the inning to keep Hillsdale in check and secure the 4-2 win.
Game 2 Highlights
Malone's offense picked up right where they left off in the second game. The Pioneers scored four runs on five hits in the top of the first inning to take an early lead.
Henry Smith,
Boston Black, and
Cole Maley all had RBIs in the inning for Malone.
Unfortunately Hillsdale chipped away at the deficit by getting two runs back in their half of the first inning. The Chargers then scored three runs on four hits in the second inning to move ahead 5-4.
Down to their last at bat of the game in the seventh,
Evan Balzano launched his first home run of the season to tie the game at 5-5.
Eric Baum, who had entered from the bullpen to start the second inning, worked around a leadoff double in the bottom half of the inning to keep the game scoreless.
Malone was unable to take advantage of runners in scoring position in the top of the eighth, and the Chargers got a RBI double in their half of the frame to pick up the 6-5 walk-off win.
Game 3 Highlights
This time around it was the Chargers who scored first, coming away with six runs in the bottom of the second inning.
Isaac Stallard got Malone on the board in the fourth with his RBI groundout, but it was all Hillsdale the rest of the way.
HC added two runs in the fourth and one more in the sixth to finish off the series victory with a 9-1 game four win.
PIONEER POINTS
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