Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- No. 3 seed Point Park University baseball is on to the finals of the RSC Baseball Championship after two big wins on Saturday from VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.
The Pioneers (37-12, 20-7 RSC) started the day with a 10-1 victory over No. 2 Asbury (Ky.), a game that resumed at 10 a.m. with the score 0-0 in the bottom of the second after being suspended due to rain late on Friday night.
That advanced Point Park to the winner's bracket final versus No. 1 IU Southeast 30 minutes later. The Pioneers turned around and earned a 6-4 victory over the Grenadiers to punch their second victory in a row and a ticket to the championship round.
Saturday started with just four of the six teams remaining in the double-elimination bracket. The Pioneers are now 3-0 in the tournament and are in the finals, one win away from claiming the championship title.
Point Park will play No. 1 IU Southeast in the RSC Championship finals on Monday, May 10 at 9 a.m. IU Southeast survived the loser's bracket with a 6-5 win over No. 2 Asbury in 11 innings after Asbury had beaten No. 5 Rio Grande (Ohio) with a late rally, 7-5.
Point Park and Asbury were scoreless when the rains came on Friday night. The Pioneers set the tone right off the bat Saturday by scoring two runs in the top of the third when play resumed. Point Park went on to get 10 runs and 20 hits in all for the victory.
Ryan Huber, who started the game on Friday night, came back and continued his outing on Saturday morning. He went 8.1 innings giving up just one run, which came in the bottom of the ninth, after Point Park was already up 10-0. Easton Klein came in to get the final two outs.
Huber scattered eight hits, struck out six and walked two. He made quick work the the Eagles in the sixth, seventh and eighth tossing just 16 pitches his final two full innings to keep Point Park's bullpen quiet.
Offensively, Point Park had 14 different players get an at bat, and 11 of them had at least one hit as the hitting was up and down the lineup.
Jouseph Renovales was 4 for 6 with two RBIs and three runs. Carlos Sanchez was 4 for 5 with three RBIs, and his base hit in the third starting things off well right off the bat.
Antonio Carrillo was 3 for 5 with two RBIs, including a solo homer to lead off the ninth inning. Point Park scored two in the eighth and four more in the ninth to stretch out a game that was still hanging in the balance at 4-0. Dylan Winseck had a big game going 2 for 4 with a double and two runs.
Point Park took early control versus IU Southeast with two runs in the top of the first. It was a tough start for the Grenadiers with Renovales and Ed Pfluger getting on base via a hit batter and a walk as the first two hitters. A wild pitch moved both runners up. Sanchez's groundout and an infield error brougth home the two runs.
IU Southeast tied up the game with two in the bottom half on Derek Wagner's two-run single with two outs. That was all IU Southeast got versus Point Park starter Cole Horew, who went 3.0 innings. Point Park was up, 3-2, when he left
Point Park bumped the lead to 5-2 in the fifth thanks to Winseck's clutch single and Renovales' sacrifice fly that scored Danilo Leon. Leon had kept the rally going with a bunt single earlier.
With the lead, the Point Park bullpen covered the last 6.0 innings and did not give up an earned run. Christian Negron pitched the fourth and gave up a single run unearned. Nicholas Beardsley came in on one day rest. He pitched the fifth and got one out in the sixth.
IU Southeast had two runners on and one out in its half of the sixth. That's when Point Park called on Ruben Ramirez to protect the 5-3 lead. Ramirez struck out the first two batters he faced to end the threat, and he took things the rest of the way to get the win.
Pitching the final 3.2 innings, Ramirez gave up just one hit and one unearned run. He struck out six and walked one. Ramirez retired the Grenadiers in order in the seventh and faced four batters working around a walk in the eighth.
Point Park put up an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Pinch hitter Michali Brito led off with a double, and Pfluger came up with an RBI double two batters later.
In the IU Southeast ninth, a double by Drew Hensley and an error made the score 6-4. With the tying run at the plate and one out, Ramirez fanned the final two hitters to seal the victory.
