NEXT GAME (May 15): Point Park (46-8) vs. Bryan/Cumberlands winner, 10 a.m. (Williamsburg, Ky.)
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WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. -- No. 4 seed University of Northwestern Ohio had many big hits to slug its way to a 13-5 victory over No. 3 seed Point Park University to start the second day of the Williamsburg Bracket of the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round on Tuesday morning.
UNOH (41-18) stayed unbeaten at 3-0 in the tournament with 17 hits, which included four homers. The Racers had big blows with the bats to build an early lead and then add on later. Point Park (46-8) had 10 hits and got 17 baserunners, but it could not match the big hits that UNOH had.
Point Park drops down to the loser's bracket and will play again Tuesday night at 7 p.m. versus the winner of No. 1 Byran (Tenn.) (40-16) vs. No. 2 Cumberlands (Ky.) (47-10), a game that is up next in the tournament at 3 p.m.
Northwestern Ohio moves on to the championship game and is one win away from the NAIA World Series. The winner of Tuesday night's game will join the Racers in the finals and will need two victories there for the title.
Point Park scored in five separate innings, but each of those innings was a single run. The Pioneers trailed 2-0 and 6-1 early on and chipped away to 6-3 in the middle innings, but that is as close as they got. UNOH's bullpen covered the last 6.0 innings after Point Park cut the lead to 6-3.
UNOH's four homers came in every odd inning from the first to the seventh. Jake Barrie's two-run shot in the top of the first gave the Racers a 2-0 lead. Dayfran Ortiz hit a three-run homer for a 6-1 lead in the third. That was the first of his two homers with the other one pushing the lead to 8-3 in the fifth on a two-run shot. The final big hit for the Racers was Felix Correra's two-run double in the seventh.
Point Park was able to cut the lead to 6-3 with Richard Perez's run-scoring single in the third and Ben Herstine's RBI single in the fourth. Mrkonja had doubled to set up Perez's RBI, and he scored two runs. Cole Horew had led off the fourth with a base hit, moved to second on an outfield error and to third on a wild pitch.
Northwestern Ohio starter Brett McEldowney pitched 3.0 innings and gave up three runs on six hits. The last of those hits was Herstine's RBI single. But then the Racers went to the bullpen with winning pitcher Mitch Ebben (6-0) covering the first 3.1 innings of relief. He allowed three hits and one run.
Point Park's run off of Ebben was Erik Montero's homer that cut the score to 11-4. Austin Gridley came in to face one batter before things were turned over to UNOH closer Jacob Hulcher, who allowed just one hit over the final 2.2 innings in a non-save situation.
Montero went 3 for 5 with a homer. Perez was 1 for 3 with two RBIs. The Pioneers had their chances but left 12 men on base and had two runners cut down at home during the game.
Both teams used four pitchers with Point Park starter Felix Castillo (9-1) taking the loss in 6.1 innings. Christian Negron, Jake Forgrave and Keenan Smith pitched the last 2.2 innings for the Pioneers.
Check back at PointParkSports.com for an update on Point Park's opponent for the 7 p.m. game, which is the loser's bracket final. Live Video and Live Stats for each tournament game are provided by Cumberlands Sports Information. An update is provided above via @PointParkSports on Twitter.
