The Malone University baseball team avoided elimination and will live to play another day after pounding 20 hits in a convincing 12-5 upset win over number-one seed Grand Valley State University Friday afternoon in Xenia, Ohio. With the victory, the Pioneers captured their first ever GLIAC Baseball Tournament win and will advance to play Hillsdale College (MI) on day three of the tournament on Saturday.
 
Recap:
The Pioneers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first with back-to-back two-out hits. Richie Mast, who reached on a double down the rightfield line earlier in the inning, would scored the game's first run on Matt Davis' double to right center. Brenden Wells made it a 2-0 game with a single up the middle to score Davis.
 
Grand Valley State knotted the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the second with its own two-out double. The 2-2 deadlock was short-lived, however, as the Pioneers began a three-inning stretch in which they piled up 15 hits and 10 runs.
 
In the top of the third, Malone opened the inning with four straight hits. Back-to-back singles from Jon Crank and Matt Davis preceded an RBI double from Brenden Wells and an RBI single from Ryan Sarbaugh. Following a groundout, Joe Crank plated the third run of the inning with a single to center. Austin Pachan's safety squeeze bunt that turned into an infield single gave Malone a 6-2 lead.
 
An inning later, Malone tagged five more hits and opened up a 9-2 advantage. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Matt Davis and an RBI single from Brenden Wells made it 8-2 before Joe Crank's opposite-field single stretched the margin to seven.
 
In the top of the fifth, Wells' fourth hit of the game plated Malone's 10th run before Joe Crank came through yet again with a two-run single to make it a 12-2 contest. The Lakers would go on to hold Malone to just one hit over the remaining four innings but the damage had been already done. GVSU tacked on three harmless runs in the final two frames as Malone held on for the 12-5 triumph.
 
Seven Pioneer hitters collected two or more hits apiece. Brenden Wells totaled four hits, three runs and four RBI while Joe Crank equaled him with four RBI and three hits of his own. Jon Crank finished with three hits, including two doubles, and three runs scored. Richie Mast and Ryan Sarbaugh added three hits and two runs each. Matt Davis and Austin Pachan both checked in with a pair of hits.
 
Malone starting pitcher Roscoe Blackburn improved to 4-4 on the season, going seven innings while striking out four in the victory. Blackburn was the beneficiary of a tremendous defensive effort by the Pioneers.
 
Up Next:
Malone (27-23) will face their second elimination game in two days when they battle #6 seed Hillsdale (31-21) on Saturday, May 14th at the Athletes in Action Baseball Complex in Xenia, Ohio. The Chargers knocked out #2 seeded Ashland University with a 5-4 12-inning win over the Eagles on Friday.