WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Malone University baseball team split a pair of non-conference games during their spring break trip to move to 6-5 overall in 2025. The Pioneers defeated Roosevelt University (5-7) 5-4 but lost to Grand Valley State University (12-3) by a score of 16-9.
MALONE vs ROOSEVELT RECAP:
Malone had to come from behind to defeat the Lakers of Roosevelt 5-4 in ten innings. The Pioneers surrendered four runs in the first three innings, but from there it was all Malone in the runs column.
A leadoff triple by
Anthony Bartiromo was the first baserunner of the day for the Pioneers and
Anthony Ryan drove him in with a single later in the fourth. Bartiromo would cut the deficit in half with an RBI single in the fifth to plate
Robert Gumino. Gumino kept the trend going by driving in a run in the at-bat after he scored with a sacrifice fly in the seventh to make it a one-run game, 4-3.
Doubles by Ryan and
Jake Barker in the eighth tied the game at 4-4.
Nate Plack (1-0) relieved the starter
Jackson Phelps and pitched the Pioneers to extra innings with three scoreless frames. In the tenth, Ryan came through as the hero with an RBI double following a walk by
Allen Diaz. This made the score 5-4 as
Cooper Davies arrived from the Pioneer bullpen. Davies worked around a leadoff walk to lock up his first save of 2025.
The duo of Bartiromo and Ryan had three hits apiece and combined for six of the team's 12 hits.
Eric Baum had a multi-hit game as well at 2-for-4. Phelps and Plack had four strikeouts each and the bullpen went four scoreless innings.
MALONE vs GRAND VALLEY STATE RECAP:
Malone got the bats going late, but it was not enough to claw all the way out of a 12-run hole the Pioneers put themselves in against Grand Valley State. The Lakers had five runs in the second and added six in the third for crooked numbers.
The team got one run back on an error in the third, and scored two in the fifth and three in the sixth to get to 14-6.
Ethan Petak had a pair of run-scoring hits for Malone in those innings. The Pioneers had another three-run inning in the eighth to make it 15-9. Runs scored on a
Charlie Roberts double, a Gumino sacrifice fly and a groundball to the shortstop by
Gino Lazzari scored an error.
Grand Valley State added one more run in the ninth to get to the 16-9 final score. Petak led the team with four hits after entering the game as a replacement. Ryan and Roberts each had multiple hits as well.
Devin Norton (1-2) received the loss on the mound.
UP NEXT:
Malone takes on Wayne State University on Saturday, March 8 at 3:45 P.M. for their next game at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
