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Box Score 2 WASHINGTON, Pa. -- (RV) Point Park University baseball started its weekend series versus Midway (Ky.) University with a 6-0 victory on Friday night at Washington Wild Things Park. The Pioneers (25-9, 13-3) had big hits from Gianmarco Marcelletti and Ed Pfluger in the four-run fifth and had four pitchers combine on the shutout.
The series continues with Games 2 & 3 on Saturday at 12 p.m. (DH) back at Wild Things Park. Midway is now 14-21 overall but remains one of the top teams in the River States Conference standings at 11-4 RSC.
Point Park stretched its lead out to 5-0 in the key fifth inning. Two walks and single by Edwin De La Rosa loaded the bases. With two outs, Marcelletti cleared the bases with a three-run double. Pfluger came up next with a triple to bring in another run.
The Pioneers added another run in the seventh on Luis Mujica's sacrifice fly. By then, Point Park's pitching had settled in to finish the game off.
Point Park starter Easton Klein got the win in 6.0 innings to improve to 7-1 on the year. He worked around four walks but gave up only four hits to keep the zeroes on the scoreboard. Midway left the bases loaded in the second and left two each in the third and fourth innings as the game remained 1-0 until Point Park's big inning.
The Pioneers had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Luis Hernandez led off with a single, stole second, stole third and scored on a groundout by Jared Campbell. Hernandez was 2 for 3 with two walks and two runs.
With Midway's best chances coming early on, Klein handed a 6-0 lead over to the bullpen for the last three innings. Three bullpen arms combined to retire nine of the 11 batters they faced.
John Hawley struck out the first batter he faced before giving up a pair of singles. Jose Moreno came in to retire the next two batters and get out of the jam. Moreno set the Eagles down 1-2-3 in the eighth, and Javier Cardoso did the same in the ninth.
Pfluger and De La Rosa were both 2 for 3. Marcelletti went 1 for 3 with a walk and his big double for three RBIs.
Midway had starter Blake Kincaid take the loss in 4.2 innings. Four of the five runs he gave up came with two outs in the fifth. Those were the clutch swings by Marcelletti and Pfluger. Point Park got two hits and one run off of four relievers from the Eagles.
Saturday's games will be broadcast by the Point Park Sports Network with streaming video. Live stats will also be provided. Go to PointParkSports.com/Live for any available live coverage throughout the season.
