Oilers Stay Hot | Earn First Four-Game Conference Sweep Since 2012
Findlay, Ohio – The University of Findlay baseball picked up an impressive 12-5 victory on Monday, March 27 against the Malone University at The Cube. The Oilers scored all 12 of their runs in the middle innings of the nine-inning affair to pick up the four-game sweep of the Pioneers, the second consecutive season with a series win vs. Malone. With the win, Findlay is now 12-9 on the year with a 5-3 mark in Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) play while Malone falls to 11-11 overall and 2-6 in the conference.
The sweep of Malone is Findlay's first series sweep of a conference opponent in a four-game set since winning all four games against Northwood University, when both were in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), in May of 2012. The Oilers are currently on a five-game win streak, their first five game streak since 2018.
Malone, which was outscored 32-14 in the series, struck first with a single run in the top of the first, but as starting pitcher Logan Bragg settled in, so did Findlay's offense.
The Oilers left one runner on stranded in the first and two more in the second before breaking into the score column in the third.
Senior Aiden Lao, who would collected four hits on the day, ripped a double to left center and advanced to third on a wild pitch. After a walk to senior Cole Kwiatkowski, freshman Casey Maruniak singled, scoring Lao and tying the game. Three batters later, Maruniak would score on a fielder's choice by senior Christian Orr. The next batter, junior Andrew Micale, singled to center, scoring senior Nate Brooks and putting the home team ahead 3-1.
In the fourth, RBIs by Maruniak and Brooks made the score 5-1, and three more runs in the fifth gave the Oilers eight unanswered runs and a comfortable 8-1 lead.
Malone did battle back, scoring four runs in the sixth to make it 8-5, but four runs by the OIlers in the bottom of the sixth sealed the deal as Findlay went on to a seven-run victory.
Findlay scored their 12 runs on 14 hits and made three errors while Malone scored five runs on eight hits and also made three errors.
Lao was the leader for the Oilers' offense, going 4-for-6 out of his spot at the top of the lineup. He had two doubles, an RBI, and three runs scored.
Brooks stayed red hot with three hits on Monday, his eighth multi-hit effort in the previous ten games. In the month of March, Brooks has been the top threat at the plate as he leads Findlay this month with a batting average of .435.
Kwiatkowski picked up a pair of hits, two RBI, two walks, and a run scored while freshman Keelan Daniel had a hit, two RBI, and a run scored.
The Oilers will play their final home game of the next two weeks tomorrow, March 28 for a 3:00 pm start with the University of Indianapolis. After that, the Oilers are on the road until April 11.