The Malone College baseball team kept rolling this week as the squad won all seven of its scheduled contests.  The Pioneers opened play on Tuesday afternoon by taking both games of an American Mideast Conference twinbill at Notre Dame (OH) College, winning the opener 7-6 before claiming the nightcap by a 5-2 final in nine innings.  The squad then registered a convincing 14-6 non-conference victory at home on Thursday afternoon over NCAA Division III Baldwin-Wallace College.  Malone resumed conference play on Friday and Saturday by sweeping both of its American Mideast Conference doubleheaders with Point Park (PA) University.  At Thurman Munson Stadium on Friday afternoon, Malone rallied for a 10-3 victory in the opener and then kept its momentum going in game two with a dominating 11-1 run-rule triumph.  The two squads then traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon where Malone notched two more wins by final scores of 9-1 and 2-1. 

     With the perfect 7-0 week, Malone, ranked #22 in the most recent NAIA Top 25 National Poll, extended its current winning streak to 11 games and improved its overall record to 31-9 with an impressive 19-3 mark in AMC play.  The Pioneers’ 11 consecutive victories mark the longest winning streak for the program since the squad won 13 straight games in the opening weeks of the 2006 season.

     In game one against Notre Dame on Tuesday, the Falcons entered the top of the seventh with a 4-2 lead before Malone rallied for five runs to grab a 7-4 advantage.  Notre Dame scored twice in the bottom of the inning and then put two runners on base with one out before freshman closer Bryan Bayer (Fairless H.S.) escaped the jam, fanning the next two Falcon batters to preserve the 7-6 triumph with his second save of the season.  Junior Sam Campitella (Jackson H.S.) started on the mound and picked up his fifth victory of the year (5-0) after giving up six runs on nine hits over 6.1 innings of work.  Malone remained patient at the plate in Tuesday’s opener, posting four hits while drawing a season-high 12 walks.  Senior rightfielder John Stallings (Louisville H.S.) went 1-2 in the contest with one run scored and two runs batted in while senior leftfielder Chris Mandeville (Tuslaw H.S.) went 1-2 with a double and two runs scored.

     Tuesday’s nightcap remained knotted at 1-1 until the top of the eighth when a pair of Notre Dame errors and a two-out, run-scoring single by Stallings put the Pioneers in front 2-1.  The Falcons fought back to tie the game at 2-2 with a two-out double in the bottom of the frame.  Malone once again rallied in the top of the ninth, though, as the squad scored three runs on a RBI single by junior shortstop Scott McIlvain (Marlington H.S.) and two back-to-back sacrifice flies by junior first baseman Ryan Baechel (GlenOak H.S.) and junior third baseman Zac Barson (Canton South H.S.).  Bayer, who had entered the game in the bottom of the eighth, then retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the 5-2 victory.  Bayer earned the win, improving to 3-1 on the year after working 1.1 innings of scoreless and hitless relief.  The Pioneers registered nine hits in the contest as junior second baseman Mike Tozzi (Sandy Valley H.S.) went 3-3 with one run scored while McIlvain finished with two doubles, one single and two runs batted in.

     In Thursday’s contest with Baldwin-Wallace, the Pioneers used a six-run outburst in the bottom of the second inning to take a commanding 9-2 lead.  The Yellow Jackets trimmed the deficit to 9-5 with three runs in the top of the fifth but Malone’s offense then went back to work, scoring twice in the bottom of the inning and three more times in the bottom of the eighth to pull away for the 14-6 triumph.  Six different Pioneer batters tallied at least two hits in the contest as the squad racked up a total of 20 base hits while racing around the base paths with a season-high nine steals.  Junior Ryan Hartong (Dalton H.S.) started on the mound and notched his second win of the year (2-2) after giving up five runs on seven hits over five innings pitched.  Mandeville led the way for the offense, going 4-for-4 with three runs batted in and two stolen bases.  Senior centerfielder Troy Richeson (Minerva H.S.) went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, three runs batted in and two steals while junior catcher Jon Lutton (Louisville H.S.) also went 3-for-4 with a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single.

     In Friday’s opener, Point Park grabbed an early 3-0 advantage with a three-run homer in the top of the first inning.  The score then remained unchanged until the bottom of the fifth when Malone cut the deficit to 3-2 on a RBI double by Mandeville and a two-out, run-scoring single by freshman infielder Justin Shiflett (Zane Trace H.S.).  The hosts then took command of the contest in the bottom of the sixth inning with an eight-run outburst.  Point Park retired the first two batters of the frame but the next nine Malone hitters reached base safely with two walks, one hit by pitch, and six singles.  Point Park finally managed to get out of the inning on a liner to the third baseman but the visitors were unable to recover from this late-game surge, falling by the 10-3 final.  Senior Zach Winkhart (Canton Central Catholic H.S.) went the distance on the mound for Malone, earning his fourth victory of the year (4-0) after limiting Point Park to three runs on four hits over seven innings of work.  Eight different Malone batters recorded at least one hit in the contest as Mandeville led the way, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two runs batted in.

     Malone picked up right where it had left off in Friday’s second game, scoring ten runs over the first three innings en route to a dominating 11-1, five-inning win.  Sophomore left-hander Todd Liberatore (Tusc. Central Catholic H.S.) tossed his fourth consecutive complete-game, earning the win (6-0) after limiting Point Park to one run on five hits over five innings pitched.  Winkhart led the way offensively in the contest by driving home a career-high five runs with a sacrifice fly, a one-run single and a two-out, three-run double.

     Despite a change of venue for Saturday’s contests, Malone’s bats continued to tee off in game one as the squad plated nine runs on 14 hits in the 9-1 win.  Senior right-hander Josh McKeivier (Strasburg Franklin H.S.) started on the mound and picked up his second victory of the season (2-1) after limiting Point Park to one run on seven hits over his six innings of work.  McIlvain went 3-for-5 at the plate in the contest with two runs scored and one RBI.  Mandeville and Baechel also made significant contributions as Mandeville drove in two runs with a fifth-inning single and Baechel went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one run batted in.

     Unlike the first three games of the series, Saturday’s finale was a low-scoring pitcher’s duel.  Malone tallied its only runs of the game on a pair of two-out, RBI singles.  Stallings brought the first run home in the top of the second inning and Mandeville then stretched the visitors’ advantage to 2-0 with another clutch hit in the top of the third.  Point Park plated an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit in half but freshman starter Jeff Shenker (Twinsburg H.S.) and Bayer then combined to shutout the hosts over the final two innings to preserve the 2-1 victory.  Shenker posted his second win of the season (2-0) after scattering four hits and striking out seven over six innings.  Bayer tallied his third save with a scoreless seventh.

     This week, Malone (31-9 overall, 19-3 AMC) will face Mt. Vernon Nazarene University (23-13 overall, 12-6 AMC) in a pair of conference doubleheaders.  The Pioneers will host the Cougars in a 1:00 p.m. twinbill on Tuesday afternoon before traveling to Mount Vernon for two more games on Saturday starting at 1:00 p.m.

Men’s Golf Wins Own  Invitational Title With New Tourney Record, Takes Fourth At NAIA Classic; B Team Claims Runner-Up Finish At Walsh Invitational

     The Malone College men’s golf B team tallied a second-place finish among a three-team field at the Walsh University Invitational on Monday to open up what became an outstanding week of action for Pioneer men's golf.  At the Walsh event, Malone registered a score of 319 to finish just three strokes behind Walsh University which won the team title at 316.  The University of Northwestern Ohio came in third with a score of 340.

Men's Tennis Team Wins Two Of Three On The Week