Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
MASSILLON, Ohio – The Notre Dame Falcons fell twice to the Malone Pioneers in a mid-week non-conference double header on Wednesday afternoon.  

Notre Dame (11-13) has now lost four in a row on the road,  while the victories for Malone (11-9) extended their winning streak to four games, and they've now won four of five at home. 

The Falcons dropped a narrow, 6-5 contest in game one, before falling in a slugfest, 17-7 in game two. 

Game One
Notre Dame wasted no time getting started, as they plated a pair of runs in the top of the first inning, and used the long ball to get both runs. Danny Beaver began the game with a solo homer, his first of the season, and two batters later, Ross Barker belted a solo shot to give NDC a 2-0 lead. 

The lead didn't last long, as the Pioneers responded in the bottom of the first inning, using a two-run shot from Matt Davis to tie the game at 2-2. A one-out RBI base hit from Joe Crank gave the Pioneers a 3-2 lead in the second, and they added to that in the third, when Derek Carmichael stroked a run scoring single to left. 

The Falcons came back in the top of the fourth inning, plating a pair of runs to tie the game at 4-4. Nick Ely started the inning with a double and Keifer Quick followed with a single through the left side of the infield. TJ Lett followed with a RBI groundout to plate Ely, and Austin Barnhart grounded out later in the inning to score Quick. 

Malone regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth. The first two batters of the inning were hit by a pitch, and the next two walked, prompting the Falcons to call on Hank Beasore to try and stop the bleeding. Beasore minimized the damage as he induced a huge double play which allowed the last run of the inning to score, before getting the final out on a groundout. 

Notre Dame put a threat together in the top of the seventh inning. Barker drove in his second run of the game, on a two-out RBI single to center, scoring Barnhart to bring the Falcons within one, but the game ended with the tying run at second base. 

Josh Armbruster (3-3) took the loss after allowing four runs on six hits over three innings of action. Beasore tossed two scoreless innings in relief, allowing just one hit along the way. 

Eight out of the starting nine reached safely at least once, while four Falcons hit safely multiple times. Barker, Ely, Quick and Barnhart all turned in two-hit performances. 

Game Two 
The Falcons used the long ball to stage an early lead in game two. Barker walked with two down to extend the top of the first inning, which setup Julio Rosales's two-run homer to left, his first of the season, giving the Falcons an early 2-0 lead. 

Unfortunately for the Falcons, the lead didn't last long, as the Pioneers answered with five in the bottom of the first. Keanan Locke went deep for the Pioneers to kick start the bottom of the first inning to cut that lead in half. Crank tied the game later in the inning on a RBI double, before Brenden Wells snapped a 2-2 tie with a 2-run double to left center, and he scored the final run of the inning on Matt Noel's RBI single to right. 

Notre Dame was able to get one of those runs back in the top of the second. Quick's third hit of the day was a leadoff single through the left side of the infield, and he advanced to second base on a wild pitch with two outs, before Barnhart scored him on a RBI single to center. 

Despite their offensive efforts, the Falcons could not keep up with the Pioneers, who scored 17 runs on 19 hits. They plated two more in the second, three in the third, exploded for six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and added another in the fifth. 

The Falcons added single runs in the fourth and fifth, before plating two more in the seventh. In the fourth, Travis Smetana went deep for the first time this season, belting a solo homer to right, and Lett smashed his first homer of the season in the fourth inning, sending it over the wall in right-center field. NDC scored their final two runs in the seventh, on RBI singles from Lett and Jake Kirsh. 

Nine Falcons hit safely, while four turned in multi-hit games. Ely, Quick, Lett and Barnhart all hit safely twice in the contest. Ely, Quick and Barnhart led the Falcons with four hits on the afternoon. 

The Falcons return to action on Friday, April 1, when they square off against West Virginia Wesleyan in a Mountain East Conference road double header in Buckhannon, W.Va. The first pitch in game one is scheduled for 1 p.m.