Official Championship Page
Updated Championship Program (PDF)
MASON, Ohio - A date with championship destiny is within grasp for No. 3 seed Kentucky Wesleyan and No. 2 seed Malone after three more games were completed in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball Championship bracket on Friday.
The Panthers continued their perfect postseason run with a 7-3 victory in the winner's bracket against top seed Trevecca Nazarene in the first game of the day.
The road for Malone has been more of a circuitous route after the Pioneers dropped their opening-round contest. Malone has won three straight with a win-or-go-home mentality since being edged in the first tournament game vs. No. 5 Ohio Valley.
The Pioneers won game 8 of the conference tournament, 10-0 in eight innings vs. Ohio Valley, and on about an hour's rest, turned in a clutch performance in a one-run game to keep their title hopes alive.
Prasco Park and Legacy Field have served as a gracious home and host to nine games in the conference tournament so far. The championship series on Saturday between Kentucky Wesleyan and Malone is scheduled for a first pitch start at 12 p.m. EDT.
KWC controls its destiny with a win. If Malone wins, the 'if necessary' game would be played following at a time to be determined in the afternoon.
Archived game footage of the G-MAC Baseball Championship is available for all games for viewing courtesy of Stretch Internet.
From Friday:
Game 7 - KWC vs. TNU
Game 8 - OVU vs. MAL
Game 9 - MAL vs. TNU
From Wednesday:
Game 1 - OVU vs. MAL (Audio Only)
Game 2 - CED vs. TNU
Game 3 - AB vs. KWC (Audio Only)
Game 4 - CED vs. MAL
Game 6 - OVU vs. KWC
Moments That Mattered
In a scoreless game, Malone's G-MAC Freshman of the Year Nate Cobb executed a suicide squeeze bunt to perfection, leading to the game's only run in the top of the ninth inning. Both Trevecca Nazarene and Malone bent, but did not break against the pressure as starters Mac Barnes and Eric Mullet were flawless on the mound.
Cobb deadened a ball at the plate on a 2-0 count with the runners in motion. The emotion and tension continued to build inning by inning with elimination and the season on the line for both respective programs.
Cobb also turned in arguably the tournament's best defensive play thus far, a backhanded diving grab to rob OVU's Nicholas Villazon of extra bases. It was the kind of play that makes you think gold glove caliber.
The Pioneers pitched 17 combined innings of scoreless baseball on Friday. Southpaw Braun Miller blanked Ohio Valley in a rematch for redemption from Wednesday. Malone's Keanan Locke homered and had five RBI while conference batting champ Matt Noel added a few more points to his season line with a perfect 4-for-4 effort.
Kentucky Wesleyan leadoff hitter Cody Bridges continues to terrorize pitching with two more doubles and a triple on Friday. The sophomore had the walk-off RBI hit on Wednesday against Alderson Broaddus in extra innings. Even more notable was one of his two-baggers was a ground-rule double, a play he could have easily legged out into another triple.
The Panthers grabbed immediate momentum with the first five runners reaching base and manufacturing four runs in the first inning against TNU.
In high-leverage situations, relievers have seized the moment. Similar to the World Series strategy of Andrew Miller (Cleveland Indians) going multiple innings, KWC's Alex Franzen and Malone's Gunnar Smeyres provided the same kind of results as a lockdown option in the bullpen.
Franzen tossed three scoreless innings for the save while Smeyres had nasty stuff working with five strikeouts in just 2.2 IP to get the winning decision vs. TNU. Smeyres lowered his ERA even further below an-already miniscule 1.00 line.