COLUMBUS, Ohio – In their fourth and fifth games in three days, the Malone University baseball team was victorious in both games of a Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) doubleheader at Ohio Dominican University. The Pioneers (16-27, 7-19 G-MAC) pounded the Panthers (16-28, 10-16 G-MAC) in the series opener 15-8 and pulled away for a 6-2 triumph in game two.
 
GAME ONE RECAP:
Arrant throws by Ohio Dominican helped give Malone a 3-0 lead in the early innings of game one. The Panthers plated two, but Jake Barker launched a three-run homerun to remain in front 6-2 in the top of the fifth inning. Ohio Dominican doubled their scoring with a two-run triple in the bottom half of the same inning.
 
The Pioneers caught fire in the batter's box from there as they rattled off nine unanswered runs. Jordan Stevens scored one on a sacrifice fly in the sixth, and then it was a three-run seventh and four-run ninth that ballooned the lead to 15-4. Rafe Bonifay, Eric Baum, Anthony Ryan and Zach Flohr all had RBIs in the midst of the run to give Malone a commanding advantage. Ohio Dominican scored four in the ninth, but it was not enough in the 15-8 victory for the Pioneers.
 
In total, Ryan was 4-for-6 with a team-high four runs scored. Stevens, Flohr and Bonifay had multi-hit games and Flohr added three walks to reach base five times. Baum and Anthony Bartiromo combined four walks while Bartiromo and Allen Diaz were each plunked twice.
 
Jackson Phelps (5-3) got through six innings to be in line for the win on the bump. He struck out three. Allen Laytart was tasked with three innings of relief work and had one strikeout.
 
GAME TWO RECAP:
A Bartiromo triple and Diaz single put Malone in front 1-0 in the first. Devin Norton was able to escape a jam with a double play ball, but not before the Panthers answered with a run of their own in the first. Diaz drove in a run on a sacrifice squeeze to retake the lead, but once more Ohio Dominican answered.
 
A wild pitch in the fifth provided the opening Malone needed to go up 3-2. RBI singles from Baum and Diaz increased the lead to 5-2 and then Bonifay added base hit for a run to get to the 6-2 final.

Diaz was 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Ryan was also credited with three hits while Bartiromo and Bonifay had two hits each.
 
Norton (2-5) tossed a game-high five innings and struck out four. Jackson Schwalbach and Cooper Davies held the opponents scoreless in their innings of relief work.
 
UP NEXT:
The four-game series continues on Saturday, April 26 in Columbus, Ohio at 1:00 P.M.