CANTON, Ohio – After the Malone University baseball team swept Cedarville University on Friday, the Yellow Jackets returned the favor in games three and four in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) series. The Pioneers (14-22, 5-15 G-MAC) fell 5-0 and 3-1 to Cedarville (15-21, 8-12 G-MAC) on Saturday afternoon.
GAME ONE RECAP:
Starting pitcher
Finn Schmitt was rolling in the opening inning of his start until the fifth when it seemed he had run out of gas. The freshman lost command and allowed three runs to score on a hit by pitch, two wild pitches, two walks and two hits. A two-run triple off of
Caesen Sutton increased the Cedarville lead to 5-0 in the sixth inning.
Malone put traffic on the basepaths in the fifth and sixth innings, but were unable to come through for the big hit they needed to claw back into the game.
Cole Miller recorded the last four outs needed with a pair of K's, but the offense was never able to get going in the shutout loss.
Anthony Bartiromo was the lone man to reach base twice with a hit and walk. The team's four hits were diversified throughout the order. Schmitt (2-5) struck out a team-high four batters.
GAME TWO RECAP:
Jacob Rollyson was the game two starter for the Pioneers and kept the zero on the board through three innings. A three-run homerun that just got over the right field wall were the only runs allowed by the Malone pitching staff in the loss.
Jake Barker hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth to plate the team's only run of the day.
Rollyson (2-4) fanned six before turning the ball over to Miller once again. He sat four more batters down on strikes in relief.
Jackson Schwalbach twirled a scoreless ninth to give the Pioneers a shot to tie or take the lead.
In their final turns at-bat,
Jordan Stevens and Barker recorded back-to-back hits and moved up on a Bartiromo ground out.
Anthony Ryan laced a ball up the middle with two outs, but the pitcher deflected the ball and took enough velocity off for the Cedarville second baseman to make a play on it and assist on the final putout in the 3-1 game. Barker was the lone man with two hits to go with his sacrifice fly.
UP NEXT:
Malone hits the road for two games on Wednesday, April 16 at Walsh University. First pitch at North Canton will be at 1:00 P.M.
