WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. -- Point Park University had its 2018 season run all the way to the finals of the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round Williamsburg Bracket but unfortunately come up short.
The No. 3 seed Pioneers (47-9) made it to the championship round with Wednesday morning's 8-7 victory over No. 1 seed Bryan (Tenn.) College (41-17). That earned Point Park a rematch with No. 4 seed Northwestern Ohio in the finals just 45 minutes later. The Racers (42-18) continued their outstanding week with a 10-1 victory over Point Park in the final game.
UNOH advanced to the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, after a 4-0 sweep through the Williamsburg Bracket. Point Park's only loses this week came to the Racers, and the Pioneers were 2-2 on the week with victories over No. 2 seed Cumberlands (47-11) and No. 1 seed Bryan (41-17). Bryan entered the week ranked No. 9 in the NAIA Top 25 Poll while Cumberlands was No. 11, Point Park No. 16 and UNOH "receiving votes" in what was a challenging bracket with four of the top 30 teams in the country.
Point Park's 47-9 record marks the fifth-most victories in a single season in the 51-year history of Pioneers' baseball. They will end the year as one of the few teams in the NAIA with single-digit losses.
POINT PARK 8, BRYAN 7
The Pioneers built a 7-1 lead after three innings versus Bryan in the loser's bracket final to start Wednesday. Point Park had 13 hits in all, and four of its first five hitters in the game got a base hit. Edberg Dominguez and Stefan Mrkonja set the table with the first two hits, and Chris Hernandez and Richard Perez followed with RBI singles for a 2-0 lead after one.
The Pioneers scored four runs in the second inning with Erik Montero delivering a two-run single with the bases loaded and the next batter, Perez, following that up with a two-RBI base hit of his own. There were two walks and then an intentional walk to Hernandez to load the bases.
The hits continued in the third with Reynaldo Adames leading off with a single, moving to third on a double by Ben Herstine and scoring on Andres Herrera's sacrifice fly.
Bryan chipped away at the lead the next several innings. Fernando Garcia, who was 5 for 5 with three RBIs in the game, cut the score to 7-3 with a two-run triple in the fifth. Bryan's David Scoggins blasted a two-run homer to cut the deficit to 8-5 in the sixth.
Point Park starter Cole Horew earned the victory with 6.0 solid innings. He improved to 5-1 on the year after giving up five runs and seven hits. He picked up five strikeouts and gave an 8-5 lead over to the bullpen.
Addison Domingo earned his 11th save of the year by pitching the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Bryan got a run each in the seventh and eighth -- the second of which was unearned -- to get within 8-7. With the tying run at third base in the eighth, Domingo got two strikeouts to end that threat.
Bryan got two hits in the ninth to put the go-ahead run on base, but Domingo finished things off with the help of Dominguez coming up with a couple of good catches in right field, one of which was up against the wall to take away a possible homer. Domingo gave up two runs (one earned) and four hits in his 3.0 innings.
Perez finished 3 for 5 with three RBIs. Montero was 2 for 4 with two RBIs, Hernandez was 2 for 4 with an RBI, and Dominguez was 2 for 3 with an RBI.
Bryan starter Arinson Martinez lasted only 2.0 innings and gave up six runs and six hits. The Lions' bullpen had three relievers work, and the combined to give up two runs and seven hits over the final 6.0 innings.
NORTHWESTERN OHIO 10, POINT PARK 1
The Racers took advantage of some defensive miscues to put together a five-run second inning. That made the score 6-0, and UNOH was up 7-0 through its first four times at bat. The Pioneers had given up only two earned runs at that point with four errors in the second opening up the big inning.
The Northwestern Ohio offense, which had been battering good pitchers all week, was being held relatively in check for much of the game with just a couple of key hits on top of the errors. A three-run homer by Jack Barrie in the top of the eighth made the score 10-0 and deliver the biggest blow.
Jake Forgrave got the start for Point Park, and he threw 1.1 innings. Domingo came in during the second inning, and he got things all the way to the to the seventh inning with still just the two earned runs on the board despite the 7-0 deficit. He threw 7.2 innings and 128 pitches across the two games and gave up just two earned runs during that time.
Point Park totaled 10 hits in the game -- its fourth time in four tournament games getting double-digit hits -- but the UNOH defense kept the Pioneers off the board. With the help of a flashy defense that turned three double plays, the Racers' pitchers kept Point Park off the board until the ninth inning.
Point Park had the makings of a rally in the third, fifth and eighth innings with a couple of runners on each time, but double plays snuffed out the threats each time. Cole Baker started and pitched 5.1 scoreless innings for UNOH. He got the win to improve to 2-4. Mike Alexander threw 3.0 innings on one-day's rest after starting the Racers' first game of the tournament, and Mitch Ebben finished off the last 0.2 innings.
Dominguez, Mrkonja, Hernandez and Herstine were seniors who all had two hits in their final game. A total of five pitchers got into the game for Point Park with Daryl Pino, Nick Bucci and Anthony Savarino following up Domingo.
