PITTSBURGH -- Felix Castillo and Ryan Huber combined on a shutout, and the offense tallied 11 hits in Point Park University's 4-0 victory over visiting Brescia (Ky.) University on Friday at Point Park Field at Green Tree Park. It was a tidy victory that took 2 hours and 2 minutes to begin the River States Conference baseball weekend series.
The Pioneers (16-13, 9-7 RSC) and Bearcats (10-19, 5-10 RSC) will conclude the series with a doubleheader on Saturday at 12 p.m.The Pioneers will be going for their fifth series win in six conference weekends and their first RSC sweep if they can win both.
Castillo, a senior right-hander from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, tossed 7.1 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. He literally scatted seven hits with no more than one per inning as he pitched into the eighth. Castillo improved to 3-2 on the year, and the Pioneers are 4-2 in the RSC games that he has started.
Ryan Huber pitched the final 1.2 innings without giving up a hit or a run to keep the shutout intact. In a non-save situation, he retired all four batters he faced and actually picked up a total of five outs when including a pickoff to begin his outing in the eighth.
Point Park did most of its scoring in the early going with two in the first and one in the second. The top two hitters in the order did a lot of damage with Cole Horew 2 for 3 with a triple, two runs and two stolen bases and Antonio Carrillo going 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI.
In the first, Horew tripled and scored on Carrillo's base hit. Three batters later, Luis Mujica ripped an RBI double with two outs to make the score 2-0. Mujica was 2 for 4.
Yuri Sucart launched a deep home run to right-center field to push the lead to 3-0 in the second. The Pioneers sat on that lead until the seventh, when Horew singled, stole second and scored on Erik Montero's RBI base hit through the hole at second. Adding to the 11-hit attack for Point Park was Jake Forgrave going 2 for 4.
Brescia had its share of chances, but Castillo shut the door on multiple occasions. The Bearcats had runners in scoring position in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings. But a combination of big strikeouts and an errorless infield defense kept Brescia off the scoreboard. Second baseman Deonte Settles went up the middle to strand a runner at third and end the first. Shortstop Carrillo did the same to save a run in the third. Castillo finished off that inning with a strikeout.
Brescia had a runner at second with one out in the fifth, but a pickoff erased the threat. One pitch later, Castillo got a strikeout to end the inning. The Bearcats had two runners picked off of second base, including in the eighth after a one-out double.
Watch Live on the Point Park Sports Network for live video streaming of Saturday's games. Live stats will be provided on Dakstats. Log on to PointParkSports.com/Live for links to available live coverage.
