PITTSBURGH -- No. 15-ranked Point Park University baseball got into good company by reaching the 40-win mark before the end of April after it swept WVU Tech in a four-game home series on Friday and Saturday at Point Park Field at Green Tree Park. It was the final River States Conference series of the year with the playoffs coming up at the end of next week.
The Pioneers (40-7, 23-4 RSC) are one of 11 teams in the NAIA to win 40 games thus far and are the most northern team in that group. The sweep was capped off on Senior Day with wins of 10-5 and 11-6 on Saturday. The Pioneers started the series with a 4-3, walk-off win on Friday, which was followed by a 7-0 victory in the second half of that doubleheader.
Point Park's RSC record of 23-4 puts the Pioneers in second place in the final regular-season standings. (RV) IU Southeast (37-10, 23-4) had the same record as Point Park but won the tiebreaker with a series win against the Pioneers earlier this year. IU Southeast beat Midway, 9-3, on Saturday to edge out Point Park by tiebreaker. Both of Point Park's losses to the Grenadiers were in extra innings on the road.
The following is a summary of the four games versus WVU Tech:
Game 1 -- Friday -- Point Park 4, WVU Tech 3
Chris Hernandez's single in the bottom of the ninth drove in Stefan Mrkonja for the walk-off win. The Pioneers scored twice in the ninth to erase a 3-2 deficit. Mrkonja had doubled two batters earlier with two outs to tie. Ben Herstine's one-out double had gotten the rally started.
Hernandez finished 2 for 4, and Herstine was 2 for 2 with a walk and a sacrifice bunt. Point Park didn't score until the sixth inning when Richard Perez smashed a two-run double to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Point Park starter Nicholas Beardsley pitched 8.0 innings but settled for a no-decision. He struck out nine and allowed six hits. The big blow for WVU Tech was Wyatt Belinda's two-run homer in the fifth, which made the score 3-0. The Golden Bears got all of their runs in that inning.
Addison Domingo pitched the ninth inning and was made a winner with the rally in the bottom half. Beardsley came out after a lead-off single in the ninth and then Domingo got the next three batters.
Game 2 -- Friday -- Point Park 7, WVU Tech 0
Felix Castillo improved to 8-0 on the year with a two-hit shutout to win the nightcap, a seven-inning game. The native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, blanked WVU Tech with six strikeouts, no walks and only one single and one double over 7.0 innings.
Castillo faced only one batter over the minimum for the game. The single he gave up in the second was cut down with a caught stealing. He faced four batters with a double in the fourth, but the rest were 1-2-3 innings.
The Pioneers totaled 10 hits with Cole Horew leading the way at 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI. Edberg Dominguez's double and Horew's base hit drove in runs as part of Point Park's three-run third, which increased the lead to 4-0.
Richard Perez and Chris Hernandez were both 2 for 3 with a double as other hitting leaders.
Game 3 -- Saturday -- Point Park 10, WVU Tech 5
The Pioneers hit four home runs to finish off WVU Tech in the conference portion of the series. Stefan Mrkonja and Chris Hernandez had early homers in the game, but the score was tied at 4-4 through 3.5 innings.
Point Park took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth with Ben Herstine going deep for a two-run shot and Edberg Dominguez smacking a solo shot two batters later. There were three more runs in the fifth with Reynaldo Adames stroking a two-run double, which was followed right up with Dave Barefoot's RBI double.
Hernandez finished 2 for 3 with his homer, a double and two RBs. Adames was all over the scoreboard going 1 for 2 with a walk, three runs, three stolen bases and two RBIs. In the second inning, he walked on four pitches, stole second, stole third and scored head first on a wild pitch.
Cole Horew pitched the first 4.0 innings for the Pioneers. He gave up five runs with two of them unearned. Addison Domingo pitched the next four innings without giving up a run and allowing only two hits. He picked up the win with five strikeouts and no walks. Fellow senior reliever Keenan Smith worked the ninth to finish off the 10-5 win.
Game 4 -- Saturday -- Point Park 17, WVU Tech 6
Point Park put up two touchdowns and a field goal to complete the four-game sweep with a non-conference win over the Golden Bears. The Pioneers needed only six times at bat to put up 19 hits in the seven-inning game.
WVU Tech led the game, 2-0, but that was before the Point Park second inning, which had seven runs and seven hits. Ben Herstine homered in both ends of the doubleheader with a three-run shot putting the Pioneers up for good, 3-2. That inning also included Stefan Mrkonja's RBI double and a two-run single by Jake Horew with two outs.
Six more runs came in the third with seven more hits. Edberg Dominguez and Mrkonja both stroked run-scoring doubles to begin. Richard Perez and Reynaldo Adames added RBI base hits later on.
Perez led the hitting going 4 for 4 with two doubles and three runs. Adames was 3 for 3 with a double, a walk, two runs and two RBIs. Herstine ended 2 for 2 with his homer and four RBIs. Dominguez drove in three and was 2 for 2. Collecting two hits each were Mrkonja with two doubles, David Barefoot and Andres Herrrera.
Nick Bucci pitched the first 3.2 innings for the Pioneers, and he had a lead of 13-6 when he turned it over to the bullpen. Daryl Pino (4-0) earned the win after retiring four of the five batters he faced in 1.1 innings. Anthony Savarino and Robelin Bautista pitched the sixth and seventh.
NEXT UP:
The Pioneers finish the regular season with a non-conference matchup at Washington & Jefferson (23-11-1, 15-1 PAC) on Sunday, April 29 at 12 p.m. at Ross Memorial Park. Then comes the RSC Baseball Tournament May 3-6 at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio, a six-team, double-elimination tournament with the winner qualifying for the NAIA national tournament. The Pioneers will be the No. 2 seed.
