(LOUISVILLE, Ohio) — The Lake Erie College baseball team lost both of its games in a doubleheader against Malone on Friday. In the first game, the Pioneers won on a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, 5-4. And in the second game, the Pioneers won as well, this time by a score of 13-5. This drops the Storm's record to 4-23 on the 2021 campaign, while Malone improves to 14-16.

Game 1

The first game of the day started off well enough for the Storm. The only scoring done on either side in the first portion of the game was by Lake Erie, when shortstop Eric Doyle bunted and the Malone defense made a throwing error on the play, allowing a Storm runner to come across the plate. That would be the only run scored by either side until the seventh inning, when second baseman Drew Donaldson's RBI single doubled the Storm's lead.

However, Malone would come back in the bottom of that inning, jumping on starting pitcher Tyler Bryant for two earned runs and chasing him out of the game. Overall though, Bryant pitched well enough to give Lake Erie a chance, going six-plus innings and only allowing two runs despite giving up eight walks. But those two runs allowed in the seventh evened the score back up at two, causing left hander Ryan Lally to come in to finish up the inning.

Lally would stay on to begin the eighth inning, after having his offense provide him with much-needed support in the top of the inning on a Nate Birtley single that plated a run on the hit and another on an error. Lally would get an out in the eighth inning, but was then relieved for Chase Tompkins. Tompkins did his job to get the Storm through the rest of the eighth, but the story changed once the bottom of the ninth rolled around. That's when the Pioneers began their comeback, with Tompkins allowing two runners aboard before being pulled for Ryan Middendorf.

But Middendorf was barely even into the game when he gave up a three-run home run to Malone catcher Bryan Yoder, giving the Pioneers the victory in walk-off fashion.

For the Storm, center fielder Nate Birtley had a great game, going 3-4 with a double and two RBI in a losing effort.

Game 2

Just like in the first game of the day, and just as has been the case for the entire season, Game 2 was a game in which the bullpen struggled to take a Storm lead and hold it for the rest of the affair. The game was back-and-forth early on, as Malone struck first for a run in the bottom of the first inning, before Lake Erie responded in the top of the second inning on a Sam Browning solo home run to left field. Malone got back out in front on an RBI single in the third inning, but in the fourth inning, Corbin Paxton sent a two-run shot over the fence, giving the Storm the advantage.

Malone tied things up in the fifth, but once again, the Storm showed resiliency and put two more runs on the board in the top of the sixth inning, giving them a two-run cushion. However, in the bottom of that sixth inning, the Storm's fortunes took a drastic turn for the worse.

In total, Malone got across the plate 10 times in the inning—four times off of starting pitcher Cade Wendel (only three of those runs were earned), and six times off of his relief, Tristan Mayer. The dominant inning by the Pioneers was highlighted by a three-run home run by Stone King, before JC Philippi knocked a grand slam over the wall, putting the game out of reach for all intents and purposes. Being the second game of a doubleheader, the game was only scheduled to go seven innings. In the top of the seventh, down by eight, the Storm offense failed to score, and that was all she wrote.

But the Storm will have two chances to redeem themselves Saturday against these same Pioneers, when they take to the field again in a twin bill at Malone. The first game is scheduled for 10 am EST.