MASON, Ohio - No. 4 seed Cedarville and No. 5 Malone battled to an unusual 1-1 tie in nine innings during a pool play match-up at the NCCAA National Tournament.

Pool play rules dictate that a new inning cannot start after 2 hours and 15 minutes of action. The Pioneers' last batter was retired at the 2:16 mark.

The Yellow Jackets scraped up just three hits total in the contest. They needed a stellar pitching performance from Michael Roe and, arguably, the defensive play of the season from Rob Nesteroff to avert a loss.

Malone plated an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning to grab the early lead. CU was held hitless until Nesteroff's leadoff single in the fifth. The Jackets finally equalized in the sixth when Alex Beelen opened with a walk and scored one out later on a double by Tyler Rost to the gap in left center.

The Pioneers appeared to have the game won in the seventh. They got a one-out double followed by a single to right center field, but Nesteroff came up and fired a perfect strike on the fly to catcher Dan Petke to cut down the would be winning run.

Cedarville squandered a golden opportunity in the eighth. Beelen walked and Paul Hembekides produced a hit-and-run single to right to place runners on first and third with one out. However, back-to-back strikeouts foiled the rally.

Both teams went down in order in the ninth inning. The Yellow Jackets are 33-17-1 following their first tie in six years and only the second since 1990. Malone is 35-22-1.

Roe went the distance on the mound. He fanned three batters and walked two.

It was the fifth game of the campaign between the longtime rivals from the American Mideast Conference. They each traded twinbill sweeps during the regular season.

BOXSCORE

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