KOKOMO, Ind. — Colby Malson drove in the game-winning run with an extra-inning single in one game and got the save on the mound in another as Goshen College took two of three games from Cleary University at Northwestern High School in Kokomo this weekend.

Maple Leaf left fielder Ryan Hartig led all players with seven hits and a .636 batting average throughout the weekend set, but the pitchers generally had the upper hand as temperatures hovered in the 30s. Neither team scored more than four runs in any game: Goshen swept the opening doubleheader 4-3 and 4-2 on Saturday before Cleary avoided a sweep with a 3-1 win on Sunday. Goshen (7-9) finishes the season series with four wins in seven meetings against the Cougars (6-11).

SATURDAY: Goshen 4, Cleary 3, 9 innings (box score)

Hartig also led the Maple Leafs with three runs batted in over the weekend, and he wasted little time recording the first of those. A single knocked in courtesy runner Bobby Garcia with two outs in the bottom of the first—Goshen served as the home team for all three games— for a 1-0 lead.

That lead lasted all of four batters before Cole Gilmer laced a double in the top of the second inning, putting Cleary up 2-1 before Goshen starter Braedon Evans recorded his fourth out. The sophomore hurler retired 12 of the next 13 men he faced, however, and a Cody McCoy sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning squared the score at 2.

The Leafs took their penultimate lead on a two-out rally in the fourth, following a walk by leadoff man Brad Stoltzfus with hits by Ben Longacre and Clinton Stroble. That would be the extent of Goshen's scoring for the frame, though: while the Maple Leafs recorded four hits in the middle three innings, they also left four men on base.

Cleary found an answer with an unearned run in the sixth, which sent the game to extra innings after Stoltzfus was stranded on third in the bottom of the frame and both sides went down in order in the seventh. Relief pitcher Colton Daniel entered the game for GC in the eighth and allowed one hit in two innings.

Goshen also left two runners on base in the ninth, but that only came about because Malson's single ended the game. Longacre had started the inning with a base hit; he stole second to move into scoring position and scored after an intentional walk to Hartig preserved the force play.

Longacre led all players with three hits in the game, coming within one of matching Cleary's team total. Kody McGuire had GC's only extra-base hit, a double, while Malson and Hartig were each 2 for 4 with an RBI. Stoltzfus added two walks, closing within one of Vincent Caschera's career record of 88.

Evans finished with 3 hits and 3 runs allowed, one of which was unearned, in seven innings. He walked two and struck out 6.

SATURDAY: Goshen 4, Cleary 2 (box score)

For the second straight game, Goshen pulled in front at the first time of asking, and for the second straight opening inning Hartig drew the honor of swinging the big stick. Stoltzfus and Longacre, each of whom recorded base hits before advancing on a wild pitch, both came in to score on the third hit of the inning for a 2-0 Leaf lead.

Cleary followed a similar path to tie the score two innings later, although the second batter for the Cougars reached on a walk and moved over via sacrifice. At any rate, a one-out, two-run single from the fourth batter of the inning again leveled the score at 2.

CU mustered just one hit the rest of the way, a two-out infield dribbler in the sixth when the visitors left the bases loaded after flying into a double play a batter earlier. Malson would knock in Goshen's go-ahead run after a fielding error, a walk and a single in the bottom of the fifth; an inning later, Longacre's second three-bagger of the season plated Stoltzfus for a 4-2 lead.

With Malson shifting to the mound in the seventh and final inning, Cleary managed one ball hit out of the infield in their final chance at bat. Travis Grimm pitched the first six innings, scattering three singles and four walks with four strikeouts.

Stoltzfus, Longacre and Hartig each got two hits to pace GC with Stoltzfus scoring three of the four runs. Hartig also posted Goshen's first two-steal game of the season in the Maple Leafs' first doubleheader sweep of 2017.

SUNDAY: Cleary 3, Goshen 1 (box score)

For the first time all weekend, Goshen went down empty-handed in the bottom of the first as neither team scored until the fourth frame of the nine-inning series finale. Cleary found the scoreboard first, the product of a fourth-inning leadoff double by catcher James Edwards that came to fruition on a two-out infield single.

Goshen's second hit of the game was negated by a double-play grounder in the bottom of the inning as Cleary starter Irwing Guel held the hosts to two hits in the opening six frames. By the time Goshen got its third hit—you may have guessed that Hartig did the honors—in the seventh, Cleary had doubled its lead and chased Goshen right-hander Chandler Ingle.

Leadoff batter William Lovell drew a one-out walk in the top of the seventh inning before another free pass prompted Goshen to go to the bullpen for left-hander Baylee Young. The Cougars promptly loaded the bases with a hit batter: while Sheldon Rouzan became the second out of the inning, his ground ball to third would be enough to score Lovell for a 2-0 lead.

GC would put the go-ahead run on base later in the inning with a single, a walk and an error, but neither McCoy nor Anthony Todaro was able to bring the runners around as the Maple Leafs left the bases loaded. Cleary added an insurance run in the eighth inning for its largest lead of the weekend.

Again, the Maple Leafs loaded the bases with one out in the ninth inning, this time by way of a missed-catch error on a fielder's choice. Pinch hitter Nolan Holcomb kept the line moving with a single that scored Malson and put the tying run in scoring position, recycling the Goshen order as well. Both Stoltzfus and Longacre put bat to ball, but a fielder's choice and a pop-up ended GC's bid to reach .500 for the first time this season.

Guel took the win after going 8 1/3 innings for Cleary; despite six hits and six walks, he allowed one run before David Gnegy retired the last two men for the save. Ingle would take the loss despite allowing the same number of hits and earned runs as the winning pitcher, albeit in two fewer innings.

Hartig posted three of Goshen's six hits, all of which were singles. Cleary's nine hits came from eight players; Lovell was the only batter with two, although John Grable drew three walks.

Up Next: Goshen heads to Lourdes University in Toledo, Ohio, for a non-conference doubleheader before dipping its toes into Crossroads League play this weekend. Weather permitting, first pitch is set for 3 p.m. at Mercy Field on South Holland Sylvania Road.