MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (March 27, 2015) â€" Brandon Malone provided a spark, but the fire didn't catch Friday night under Anglin Field's near-freezing temperatures as the Milligan College baseball team rallied in the ninth but lost to Point University 5-2 in the opening game of an Appalachian Athletic Conference series.
 
Milligan (13-8, 5-6 AAC) and Point (14-19, 6-7 AAC) will conclude the series with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m., pending weather.
 
Malone recorded his second hit of the day with a double to deep right-center in the ninth that made it 5-1, and Josh Peterson followed with an RBI in the next at-bat to make it 5-2. Milligan's rally stalled with a man on third and the tying run on deck.
 
Peterson's RBI groundout nearly went for a base hit through the right side and would have put the tying run at the plate with nobody out, but Point first baseman Christian Cabral made a diving stop and threw from his knees to get the Milligan shortstop by half a step for the first out of the inning.
 
Until the ninth, Milligan had been held scoreless on six hits despite starting the first inning with Nick Loughry and Tyler Weir singles and the second inning with an Andrew Copas single. Malone also started the fourth inning with a single through the left side, but the Buffaloes were doomed by the double play ball. Despite allowing a baserunner in the fourth, fifth and sixth, Point starting pitcher Rhett Jones was able to face only one over the minimum from the third inning all the way to the ninth.
 
Jones struck out only three but went the distance to collect the win. Jake Watts, who threw the first six innings for Milligan, suffered the loss after an unearned run put him on the hook in the third. Watts carried the Buffs into the sixth in a 1-0 game but was tagged with a pair in the sixth and another before being removed in the seventh.
 
Watts (1-3) struck out two, walked two and gave up eight hits and four runs (three earned).
 
Weir and Malone paced the offense with 2-for-4 efforts. Weir added a run scored and Malone had an RBI.
 
After Milligan and Point conclude the series on Saturday, the Buffs will next be back at the ballpark on Friday, April 3, for the first game of a three-game set against Bryan College. The home series against Bryan will feature a single game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday.