PITTSBURGH -- Point Park University baseball had a couple of win streaks run their course on Friday afternoon as the Pioneers lost at home to Midway (Ky.) University, 8-3, to begin the River States Conference weekend series.
The No. 14-ranked Pioneers had won 12 in a row, but just like their 18-game win streak earlier this year, it came to an end. Point Park's 18-game conference win streak also ended, and the Pioneers are now 30-3 overall and 18-1 RSC.
Midway (20-17, 12-6 RSC) continued its habit of beating Top 25 teams thanks to Brandon Aoki spinning a four-hit complete game, an outing in which the 5-foot-7 left hander did not give up an earned run in 9.0 innings. Aoki struck out two, walked none and let the defense do the work behind him.
Aoki (5-4) carried a perfect game into the fifth inning and a no-hitter into the sixth. The Pioneers got their first hits and cut the score to 4-2 in the sixth, but Midway successfully tacked on more runs each time Point Park got close. Chris Hernandez stroked an RBI single for the second run. Billy Kidd, who was 2 for 3, started the rally with a base hit for one of his two hits.
But Midway quickly re-gained the four-run lead with Graeham Luttor's two-run homer in the top of the seventh for a 6-2 cushion. Luttor was 3 for 5 with a double and a homer to lead the 14-hit attack for the Eagles.
Point Park got within 6-3 with Reynaldo Adames' sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh, but the Pioneers left a couple of runners stranded as Aoki maintained the lead.
Midway later made the score 8-3 with a pair of runs in the ninth with Koy Lindsey delivering an RBI hit to finish off his day of going 3 for 4 with a walk and three RBIs. Lindsey earlier came up big with a two-run single in the sixth, which stretched out a tight game to 4-0 in favor of Midway.
Point Park starter Nicholas Beardsley (5-2) pitched 5.1 innings and gave up five hits in that span. He was charged with four runs, the last two of which were on Lindsey's base hit that scored two.
The Pioneers used three relief pitchers with the first one being Addison Domingo. He had to leave the game after 1.1 innings when an inside pitch resulted in an ejection from the umpire. Daryl Pino and Keenan Smith pitched the rest of the way.
With the win, Midway now has three NAIA Top 25 victories in the last 10 days. The Eagles beat No. 23 Cumberlands (Ky.) (37-4) to end the Patriots' 23-game win streak, and they beat No. 20 Campbellsville (Ky.) (24-11) this past week.
The series continues on Saturday with the final two games as part of a doubleheader at 11 a.m. Tune in to the broadcast on the Point Park Sports Network at PointParkSports.com/Stretch. Live stats will be provided by Dakstats. Follow the Pioneers on social media @PointParkSports and @PPUBaseball.
