QUICK RECAP

UPLAND, Ind. -- No. 4 seed Point Park (Pa.) University made it a 2-0 day at the Upland (Ind.) Bracket of the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round pulling an upset over No. 1 seed Tennessee Wesleyan on Monday night, 8-4.

The Pioneers (38-15) handed the Bulldogs -- the No. 4-ranked team in the NAIA Top 25 -- just their 10th loss of the season to advance in the winner's bracket of the five-team, double-elimination tournament. Point Park started the day with a 20-3 win over No. 5 seed Fisher (Mass.) for the right to play Tennessee Wesleyan (42-10). 

Point Park stays in the winner's bracket to play No. 2 seed and host Taylor (Ind.) University on Tuesday, May 16 at 2:30 p.m. The winner will move to within one win of the NAIA World Series. 

Point Park came back from a 3-1 deficit over Tennessee Wesleyan. A grand slam by Michali Brito in the seventh inning gave the Pioneers a 6-3 lead. It was the third grand slam of the day for Point Park.

Carlos Burroughs, who had one of the grand slams in Monday's opener, hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning of the nightcap to pad the Pioneers' lead to 8-3. 

Javier Cardoso got the victory for Point Park pitching the first 6.2 innings to improve to 9-2. He gutted his way to the seventh inning with the lead. Cardoso struck out six, walked just two and had only three real mistakes -- three solo homers for TWU. When he kept the Bulldogs in the yard, he was backed by a flashy defense, and he got out of some situations with some big strikeouts.

Sebastian Rodriguez pitched the final 2.1 innings to earn his sixth save of the year. He picked up four strikeouts and allowed just one run on four hits and a walk in his relief outing. The two Point Park pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts and three walks. 

HOW IT HAPPENED...

Point Park had chances early loading the bases with no outs in the first and having runners at the corners with one out in the second. But a pair of double plays by the flashy middle infield by the Bulldogs limited the damage to just one run in the first and got them out of the second unscathed. 

Dan Syre hit a solo homer in the bottom of the first for Tennessee Wesleyan, and the score stayed that way into the fifth as Point Park starter Javier Cardoso and Bulldogs starter Gage Vailes fell into rhythms. 

Cardoso retired the side in order in the bottom of the fourth picking up his fourth strike out to end the inning. He ran into trouble to start the fifth as Carson Ford hit a solo homer to leadoff and put the Bulldogs in front, 2-1. Tennessee Weseleyan still had something going later in the inning due to a two-out error. But Cardoso got out of it with a flyball to strand two runners. 

Vailes got through the first 5.0 innings giving up five hits and one run while holding Point Park to 1 for 10 with runners on base. The Pioneers had the leadoff man aboard in three of the first five innings but could not get the big hit. He retired the side 1-2-3 in the sixth picking up two strikeouts. 

TWU padded the lead to 3-1 on Braxton Turner's homer in the bottom of the sixth, the third homer of the game for the Bulldogs. 

Reliever Jake Sergent took over for TWU in the top of the seventh. Point Park's Eddie Javier Jr got a rally going with a base hit. Carlos Burroughs singled to center, and Omar Morillo had a bunt single on the thrid base line to load the bases. A walk to Jared Campbell with two outs made the score 3-2 before Michali Brito delivered the big blast -- a grand slam to dead center over 400 feet to make the score 6-3. 

Cardoso got the first two batters of the bottom of the seventh, including No. 3 hitter Marco Martinez on his sixth strikeout. But a walk ended Cardoso's night on 105 pitches after 6.2 innings and three runs on six hits (three of which were homers). 

Point Park gave the ball to Sebastian Rodriguez, who got the last out of the seventh on a strikeout to strand two runners aboard and the tying run at the plate to keep the score 6-3. 

Kyle Bloor was throwing flames at 95 mph in the eighth inning for TWU. He got the first two outs of the inning before throwing a walk. Carlos Burroughs made them pay with a two-run homer to make the score 8-3.  

TWU got a couple of runners on in the eighth, but Rodriguez got a groundout to end the threat. 

Alex Wize was the fourth Bulldogs pitcher to be called on as TWU tried to push the right button in the bullpen. He threw 1.1 innings getting all four outs on strikeouts to prove right late. 

Rodriguez worked around an RBI double in the ninth to strand a runner and get a final strikeout for the 8-4 win. TWU left 12 on base compared to just six for Point Park.