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Box Score 2 CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- No. 2 seed Point Park University scored another 11 runs and had its pitchers rack up 12 strikeouts versus no walks in an 11-5 win over Midway (Ky.) University on Saturday night at the River States Conference Baseball Championship from VA Memorial Stadium.
The Pioneers (36-12, 18-6 RSC) advanced to the winner's bracket final of the six-team, double-elimination bracket going on this weekend. Point Park is 2-0 so far in the championship with Thursday's 11-0 victory over Oakland City (Ind.) followed by Friday being wiped out by weather.
Point Park will play No. 1 seed IU Southeast on Sunday, May 8 at 11:00 a.m. ET with the winner of that moving on to the championship round at 3-0. IU Southeast is the only other unbeaten team left. There are four teams left in all with No. 4 Midway (Ky.) and No. 5 Oakland City (Ind.) the two teams in the loser's bracket.
The teams combined for 25 hits with Point Park out-hitting Midway slightly, 13-12. . Midway pitchers also allowed nine walks, and the Pioneers stole four bases to provide a difference.
A big blast was Isaac Santana's three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth. That gave Point Park a 5-3 lead, and the Pioneers led from then on. It was a five-run inning, which also included an RBI single from Luis Hernandez and an RBI double from Gianmarco Marcelletti. That bumped the lead to 7-3 after four innings.
The score stayed that way until the Pioneers added on in the seventh with Edwin De La Rosa delivering a run-scoring single. In the eighth, Carlos Sanchez came up with a two-run single to make the score 11-5.
Midway had cut the score to 8-5 with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth. That was with Cameron Nichols getting a big, RBI double and moving to third on an error. He later scored on a groundout.
Point Park's Jonathan Pacheco threw 7.0 innings to get the win. He gave up nine hits with seven of them being early on when Midway was ahead 3-2. But when got he got the run support, he settled in to strike out eight and walk none in just over 100 pitches.
Pacheco struckout the side in the fifth after his offense gave him a 7-3 lead. He also retired the Eagles in order in the seventh, his last inning of work. That included strikeouts of the first two hitters and a groundout on a comebacker to the mound.
Ramon Medina pitched the eighth inning as Midway got within three. Point Park regained the five-run lead, but Leo Diaz was brought in for the ninth inning to close things out. He allowed a hit but also picked up two strikeouts in a scoreless frame.
Carlos Sanchez finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs for the Pioneers. Santana was 2 for 4 with his homer, three RBIs and a sacrifice bunt. De La Rosa was 2 for 5. Luis Hernandez had a spark from the top of the order going 2 for 4 with a walk and three runs scored.
