MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (April 13, 2015) â€" Brandon Malone capped a three-hit, five-RBI game with a walk-off double in extra innings of the opener of Monday's rescheduled doubleheader against Bluefield College, and the Milligan College baseball team followed with the biggest win of the season en route to a sweep of the Rams, 10-9 and 18-2, at Anglin Field.
 
Adding the 10-0 win Milligan (20-11, 12-9 AAC) posted over Bluefield (22-20, 6-15 AAC) on March 10, the Buffaloes completed the three-game sweep and moved up to fifth in the Appalachian Athletic Conference with two series left in the regular season.
 
Malone hit three doubles in the opening-game win, the last of which he hit off the top of the left-field wall with two out and two strikes and the Buffs trailing 9-8 in the bottom of the eighth. It missed a home run by three feet but still managed to score Nate Clifton from third and Ernesto Fernandez, pinch running for Tyler Weir, from second. Clifton and Weir were aboard in the inning after back-to-back one-out singles.
 
Malone's game-winning walk-off hit wasn't the only double that gave the Buffs the lead in the game as he hit one two innings earlier in a similar situation to put Milligan on top 8-7. Again with two out, two on and down to his last strike, Malone scorched a double down the left field line to erase a 7-6 deficit. Edwin Soto and Sam Tarlton were the ones to score on it as Milligan took the lead for the third time of the game.
 
Although the Buffaloes never trailed through the first four innings, Bluefield managed to match them frame for frame over the first three. Milligan scored four in the bottom of the first only to see Bluefield tie it with four in the second. Milligan scored one more in the bottom of the second only to see Bluefield tie it with one in the third. Then after Milligan took the lead again on a Tarlton two-out single in the third, Bluefield took its first lead with two runs in the fifth.
 
Milligan looked to put the game away in the seventh, but a sacrifice fly from shortstop Tyler Timmer tied it up, and a leadoff solo home run by right fielder Sawyer McLamb put the Buffs on the ropes in the eighth. That's where Malone came through, again.
 
Malone was one of three Buffs to finish with multiple hits in the opener as Clifton and Weir were 2-for-4 and 2-for-5.
 
Multiple hits became somewhat of the norm in the nightcap as Weir's three-hit effort led five other Buffs in the category. Weir and Tarlton added four RBI's apiece and combined to cross the plate five times in the team's largest margin of victory since opening last season's home slate with a 37-run doubleheader (17-0 and 20-0) against Johnson University.
 
Jake Watts made the start and went five strong innings, allowing only two hits, two runs (one earned) and four walks. Watts carried a no-hit bid through the third but was forced to wait nearly 30 minutes for Milligan to punch seven runs across in the bottom half, and he surrendered his first hit of the day on an infield single to lead off the fourth.
 
Milligan added eight more runs in the fourth and three more in the third, all while pounding out 19 hits coming from 12 Buffs. Nick Loughry highlighted his day with a two-run homer down the right field line with two out in the third, rounding out the seven-run inning that put the game away.
 
Pending weather, Milligan will return to its home diamond for a nonconference doubleheader against Southern Wesleyan University on Tuesday beginning at 3 p.m. The Buffaloes will also be home over the weekend for the final home games of the season, against St. Andrews University.