Men's and Women's Track & Field - Malone competed at the Allegheny (PA) College Gator Invitational last Thursday; Ashley Currence, women's 4x400 relay set new Malone records as 14 NAIA qualifying marks are attained

Baseball - Malone defeats:
                       * Ohio Dominican University  8-6
                       * Walsh University  4-2
                 FINAL RECORD:  23-26  (11-5 AMC North)

 

 

     The Malone College men's and women's track & field teams competed at the Allegheny (PA) College Gator Invitational last Thursday as a total of 14 NAIA qualifying marks were attained.  In addition, Ashley Currence (Sr., East Canton H.S.) set a pair of new Malone records while the women's 4x400 meter relay team set a new school mark.
     Currence took first place in the long jump with a new school record of 18' 9" and also set a new Malone mark in the triple jump with a first-place effort of 39' 11".
     The 4x400 unit of Kim Winton (So., Medina H.S.), Laura McElrath (Jr., Tallmadge H.S.), Brittany Davies (Sr., Cedarville H.S.) and Vallie Scott (So., West Branch H.S.) also set a new school record with a first-place time of 3:52.40 (old record from 1987).

     Scott earned a first-place finish in the 400 meters in 58.41 seconds while McElrath also posted a victory in the 100-meter hurdles (15.40).  Emily Alderfer (Fr., Urbana H.S.) also captured a first-place finish -- in the shot put at 42' 1.5" (NAIA auto).
     Second-place finishes for the women went to Lacey Watkins (Sr., Lockport, NY) in the 3000-meter race walk (17:32.59; NAIA auto) and Faith Nicholson (Sr., McMurray, PA) in the high jump (5' 5"; NAIA auto).
     Finishing third was Brooke Gasser (Sr., Norwayne H.S.) in the 100-meter hurdles (16.09), Megan Patton (So., Perry H.S.) in the 400-meter hurdles (1:04.53; NAIA provisional) and Sarah Hines (Fr., Northmor H.S.) in the 3000-meter steeplechase (11:29.64; NAIA auto).
     For the men's team, Joe Carmany (Sr., New Middletown Springfield H.S.) was the lone first-place finisher -- in the 5000-meter race walk in 23:25.05 (NAIA auto).

     Tyler Davis (Jr., Teays Valley H.S.) placed second in the high jump at 6' 8.75" (NAIA auto) while Mike Wright (Jr., N. Canton Hoover H.S.) finished second in the 5000-meter race walk (27:26.17; NAIA auto).
     Josh Gortney (Jr., Sandy Valley H.S.) took third in the pole vault (15' 6"; NAIA auto).  In addition, Justin Jump (So., Wellington H.S.) posted an NAIA automatic mark in the discus at 153' 2" (4th place) and also collected an NAIA provisional mark in the hammer throw at 159' 5" (4th place).
     This week, the teams will not compete.  The teams will send numerous athletes to the NAIA Outdoor National Championships in Fresno, California May 24-26.

Baseball Team Falls To Ohio Dominican, Walsh At NAIA Regionals

     The Malone College baseball team was eliminated from the six-team double-elimination AMC/NAIA Region IX Tournament last Tuesday after dropping a pair of close contests to NAIA #12 Ohio Dominican University and local rival Walsh University.  Malone, the tournament’s fourth-seed, opened play with an 8-6 loss to third-seeded Ohio Dominican.  The squad was then knocked out of tournament play early Tuesday evening after losing 4-2 to sixth-seed and eventual tournament winner Walsh University.  The Cavaliers, who just days earlier had been swept by Malone in a four-game series, advanced to face the Pioneers after upsetting top-seeded Mount Vernon Nazarene University 3-1 in the tournament’s opening round.

     Malone and Ohio Dominican battled back and forth throughout Tuesday’s first-round contest as the lead exchanged hands several times before the Panthers were able to pull out the 8-6 win.  Ohio Dominican plated one run in the top of the seventh inning to break a 5-5 tie but Malone fought back to knot the score at 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI groundout by junior John Stallings (Louisville H.S.).  The Panthers were able to answer quickly, though, and retake the lead with a two-run single in the top of the ninth inning.  The Pioneers threatened in the bottom of the ninth by putting the tying runs on base with no one out but Ohio Dominican closer Roland Rodriguez mowed down the next three Malone batters to notch his 16th save of the season.  Freshman Todd Liberatore (Tusc. Central Catholic H.S.) suffered the loss (1-3) after surrendering the two ninth inning runs (only one of which was earned).  Malone clubbed 14 hits in the contest but also committed a season-high six errors.  Senior Bob Dubovec (Kenston H.S.) and sophomore Zach Zifzal (Meadowbrook H.S.) each tallied three hits in the contest while Stallings, sophomore Scott McIlvain (Marlington H.S.) and sophomore Jon Lutton (Louisville H.S.) finished with two hits apiece.

     Shortly after the completion of their contest with Ohio Dominican, the Pioneers had to quickly regroup for their late afternoon contest with Walsh.  Malone was able to jump out to an early 1-0 lead with a run in the first inning before the Cavaliers tied the game with a solo home run in the bottom of the second.  Walsh pulled ahead with a solo run in the fourth and then increased its advantage with two more runs in the bottom of the seventh before Dubovec crushed a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning to cut the Cavalier lead to 4-2.  The Pioneers once again threatened in the final inning, this time by putting runners on second and third with one out, but Walsh was able to retire the next two Malone batters to extinguish the threat and preserve the 4-2 win.  Sophomore Ryan Hartong (Dalton H.S.) took the loss (6-4) after giving up four runs (one earned) on nine hits over seven innings of work.  Dubovec, Lutton and senior Josh Spencer (Canton Central Catholic H.S.) each tallied two hits in the game.

     Following the two narrow defeats, the Pioneers concluded their season with an overall record of 23-26 and a final AMC North mark of 11-5.