BUTLER, Pa. -- (RV) Point Park University baseball won its fourth straight River States Conference series with a 5-0 victory over University of Rio Grande (Ohio) in the nightcap of Sunday's doubleheader at Pullman Park.

The Pioneers (17-8, 10-2 RSC) dropped Sunday's opener, 10-7, in a back and forth game but rebounded to make sure they won their conference weekend series for the fourth time in four tries. 

Point Park had opened the series on Saturday with an 8-7, comeback victory down at Wild Things Park. The series shifted north for a Sunday split. 

GAME 1 -- RIO GRANDE 10, POINT PARK 7

The Pioneers could not hang on to leads of 4-3 and 7-5 in the later innings and were victims to a Rio Grande comeback to drop the first game, 10-7. The RedStorm scored two in the eighth and five in the ninth to erase those deficits on their way to victory.

The lead changed hands many times with Point Park ahead 1-0 on an RBI single by Jordon Campbell in the second inning and then up 2-1 on Chris Williams RBI single in the third. 

But Rio Grande inched in front, 3-2, with a couple of unearned runs in the fourth. Two innings later, a two-run single by Omar Morillo put the Pioneers back on top, 4-3, through six. 

Point Park starting pitcher Ramon Rodriguez then worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning to finish his outing giving up just one earned run in 7.0 innings. He racked up eight strikeouts versus just two walks and allowed only four hits.

However, Rio Grande had some key hits and base running to steal the lead right back, 5-4, with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth.

In the bottom half, Point Park base hits by Chris Williams and Jordon Campbell set the table for Carlos Martinez's two run-double. That put the Pioneers up 6-5. Crixtian Taveras tacked on a sacrfice fly for a two-run lead heading to the ninth.

Rio Grande came up with its own ninth-inning magic -- just as the Pioneers had the day before. Five runs and five hits with a couple errors along the way put the game out of reach. 

Rio Grande had three pitchers combine on the 9.0 innings. Justin Anaya pitched into the eighth giving up six runs. Reid Shultz (0.1 IP) and Hayden Simon (1.1 IP) took it the rest of the way.

GAME 2 -- POINT PARK 5, RIO GRANDE 0

John Hawley (5.0 IP) and Ethan Parker (2.0 IP) combined on a shutout, and the Pioneers got key hitting in several innings to take the series with a 5-0 win. 

Hawley (4-2) extended his scoreless innings streak to 13.0 across his last three starts with another great outing. The senior from Virginia Beach, Va., tossed 5.0 shutout innings Sunday holding onto a 1-0 lead most of that way. He allowed only four hits, walked none and let the defense work with three strikeouts. 

Parker came in to finish off the last two innings facing only six batters. The leadoff man reached both times on an error and then a base hit, but they were erased on double plays. 

Point Park had action on the bases in every inning and steadily built the lead out to 5-0. Still, the Pioneers were clinging to the 1-0 lead when they came to bat in the bottom of the fifth. That was on a sacrifice fly by Isaac Santana back in the third. Santana sent a deep drive to the 425 sign in center field at Pullman Park. On the play, Omar Morillo tagged up and scored all the way from second.

That was all the Pioneers had until the fifth when Santana came up with another RBI -- on a base hit with two runners on. The big hit the Pioneers were looking for came three batters later -- a two-run single by Michali Brito to push things out to 4-0.

Morillo's leadoff double in the sixth and Jared Campbell's rip up the middle made the score 5-0 the next inning. 

Morillo, Brito and Eddie Javier Jr. had two hits each for the Pioneers. Point Park out-hit Rio Grande 10-5 in the decisive game. 

NEXT UP

Point Park will go to Lourdes (Ohio) for a non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday, March 26. The Pioneers play at Shawnee State (Ohio) March 29-30 for an RSC series featuring first-place Point Park (10-2 RSC) and the second-place Bears (7-5 RSC) from the RSC East Division.