In its final day down in Florida, the University of Minnesota Duluth baseball team fell to Malone University, 6-4. The Bulldogs (4-4) went 2-4 in the Russmatt Central Florida Invite, the same as they did in 2017. UMD was 3-7 at this point last year, having played four games against Pittsburg State University before the Invite - going 1-3 against the Gorillas.

Senior southpaw Marcus Frederickson proved tough to hit, allowing four hits in seven strong innings. Three of those hits came in a two-run fourth inning for the Pioneers. Frederickson struck out eight, tied for second most in an outing in his UMD career after posting two 10 strikeout performances last season. Freshman left fielder Henry George has come into his own in the Bulldogs' lineup, going 3-4 and reached base four times. George now has hits in five games with four of those being multi-hit games.

UMD took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the eighth before MU forced UMD to pull Frederickson and go through three relievers in a two-hit, two-walk four-run inning. The Pioneers capped off their scoring with a two-run blast to left field before freshman reliever Mitchell Waletzki entered to strikeout the final batter of the inning.

UMD tacked on one in the ninth but were unable to make a comeback. The Bulldogs collected one run in each of the final four innings.

UMD will have a week off to recover from its travels before heading down to Emporia, KS., to take on Emporia State University for double headers on March 17 and 18. The Hornets (9-7) have played three extra innings games (1-2), and 10-run ruled the Southwest Baptist University Bearcats in their last game.