GEORGETOWN, Ky. -- No. 15 Point Park University baseball had a tough result on Wednesday night with an 8-1 loss at Georgetown (Ky.) in an NAIA non-conference game.
The Pioneers (31-5) went south to escape the wintry, April weather that caused all of their mid-week games to be called off in Western Pennsylvania. And although they came up on the losing end to the Tigers (22-18), it was a welcome sight to get out on the diamond and play ball.
The Pioneers ran into a strong start from Georgetown pitcher Breion Barron, who pitched into the ninth inning and gave up only six hits. In 8.1 innings, Barron limited Point Park to just the one run. He picked up five strikeouts, walked just one and had the defense behind him turn in some big plays any time the Pioneers had something going.
Georgetown had two big swings that gave it an early lead of 3-0. Chris Gilbody homered to lead off the bottom of the first, and Rodnee Lee hit a two-run homer in the fourth. The score remained that way until the late stages of the game when Georgetown added five runs in its last two times at bat as the Pioneers got deeper into their bullpen.
In between, Point Park had a few chances for a big inning to draw even, but each time, the Tigers came up with a big play defensively or Barron called up a strikeout. The defense took away extra bases in the fifth to keep the score 3-0. With the Pioneers trying to cut into the 5-1 lead in the eighth, Georgetown cut down a runner at the plate and followed that up with a nice play to strand a runner.
Point Park got its only run in the top of the ninth after Ben Herstine doubled and scored on Cole Horew's double. Herstine was 2 for 3 with two doubles. The Pioneers totaled just six hits with three of them coming in the ninth.
Point Park used four pitchers with Jake Forgrave taking the loss as the starter in 3.1 innings. He gave up six hits with the big ones being the two homers. Anthony Savarino covered 2.2 innings in relief and kept the score at 3-0 before being charged with two runs in the seventh. Keenan Smith came on to get out of the seventh, and Daryl Pino pitched the eighth.
Point Park and Georgetown conclude the two-game series with another game on Thursday at 3 p.m. The Pioneers started their road trip early to get away from the snowy weather in Pittsburgh and play some games on their way to the weekend series at (RV) IU Southeast on Friday and Saturday.
Follow the Pioneers on PointParkSports.com and on social media @PointParkSports and @PPUBaseball.
Here are some of the Tweets from @GCAthletics that highlight the big plays by the Tigers' defense:
