CANTON, Ohio - The Malone University baseball team split a doubleheader against Kentucky Wesleyan College on Sunday afternoon. The Pioneers lost in game one 14-5 after the Panthers pulled away in the late innings, but rebounded for an 8-7 win in game two when pinch hitter Zach Root hit a walk-off single to seal the come-from-behind victory.
 
Malone is 17-16 on the season and 6-12 in Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) play. Kentucky Wesleyan is now 18-18 and 8-10.
 
GAME ONE RECAP:
Both teams plated their first runs of the game in the second inning. The Panthers recorded a two-out RBI single up the middle and the Pioneers responded with a bases loaded, two-run single off the bat of Colin Coblentz. Malone had three hits and a walk all with two outs in the frame.
 
A sacrifice fly evened the score at two, but in the bottom of the fifth, back-to-back homeruns by Coblentz and Doran Mast made it 4-2 Pioneers and chased the opposing starter from the game in less than five innings of work.
 
Five hits and an error aided the Panthers for a six-run top of the seventh inning. Reilly Tyna had an RBI single in the bottom half of the inning, but the opponents built upon their lead with four more in the eighth. All told, Kentucky Wesleyan would pull away to a 14-5 win in nine innings.
 
Jackson Phelps (3-2) got into the seventh inning and struck out five, but the Panthers were able to touch him up the fourth time through the order. Mast reached base safely in all five plate appearances and was 4-for-4. Coblentz had multiple hits as well at 2-for-5 with a team-high three RBIs.
 
GAME TWO RECAP:
Five runs on six hits in the first two innings put Kentucky Wesleyan up 5-0 before the faithful at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium were comfortably back in their seats after intermission. Malone would respond with three runs in the bottom of the second, all coming from a bases loaded triple by Mast.
 
The 5-3 score would hold until the fifth when the Panthers scored two. The comeback began for the Pioneers on their next turn at-bat. A bases loaded ground-rule double from Ethan Petak scored two and then Jake Barker made it 7-7 with a two-run single.
 
Shane Coblentz struck out six over the first five innings, but the Pioneers turned the ball over to Jackson Schwalbach out of the bullpen. Schwalbach (1-1) rolled two zeroes and left the go-ahead run stranded at third base in the sixth. In the bottom of the seventh, Tyna roped a single into right and Petak moved him into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. That set the table for Root to pinch hit and smoke a single to center field to claim the 8-7 win.
 
Mast was once again the catalyst of the offense at 3-for-4. He drove in three runs, with Petak and Barker each with two RBIs and 1-for-3 apiece.
 
UP NEXT:
The series with Kentucky Wesleyan concludes on Monday, April 13 beginning at 10:00 A.M.