Point Park wins pair of 1-run games at Midway to begin #RSCgotw series
By Point Park Sports Information
VERSAILLES, Ky. -- Point Park University battled for a pair of one-run victories at Midway (Ky.) University on Friday night, 1-0 and 5-4, to begin the River States Conference Baseball Games of the Week series. Point Park (26-12, 18-4 RSC) and Midway (22-19, 19-7 RSC) finish up the series Saturday with two more games beginning at 12 p.m.
Nolan Krivijanski (6-2) got the victory in Friday's opener, a pitcher's duel versus Midway's Chase Heslep (5-2). Both starters entered the game with ERA's under 2.80, and that barred out in the matchup.
Krivijanski pitched 6.1 innings and combined on the shutout with Keenan Smith, who earned the save in the final 0.2 innings of work. Krivijanski gave up six hits with three of them coming in the first inning. Midway had its best chances to score early on, but Krivijanski stranded two runners in both the first and second inning, and he did the same later on in the fifth.
Midway got the potential tying run to second base with one out in the bottom of the seventh. That came after a base hit and a balk. That's when Smith came in to get a pair of fly outs, the second of which came versus the Eagles' top hitter, Hector Quinones.
Point Park got the only run it needed on Stefan Mrkonja's sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. The bottom of the order got things going with Addison Domingo and Cole Johnson both going 2 for 3 in the game. A pair of singles by them followed up Danny Sanchez's walk. Mrkonja's RBI came next.
Friday's second game got going as a pitcher's duel as well with Point Park starter Nick Beardsley going up against Midway's James Davenport. Beardsley cruised through four scoreless innings to begin, and he had racked up eight strikeouts and just two hits allowed to that point. Davenport gave up just one run on seven hits during his outing, which lasted 5.0 innings.
Point Park pushed across a run in the fourth after putting together three singles and also mixing in a sacrifice bunt. It was Erik Montero who came up with the RBI base hit with two outs.
Midway put up four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take control with a 4-1 lead. There were two hits in the inning, one of which was Barrett Croslin's two-run double. That followed up a balk that had brought home the go-ahead run, 2-1. Beardsley ended up going 4.1 innings with three hits allowed.
With the 4-1 lead, Midway went to closer Jake McCoy, who had not given up an earned run all year and only one run total. The Pioneers got two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to go in front. Edberg Dominguez hit an RBI double for the first run in the sixth. He later came home when Danny's Sanchez's flyball was dropped.
Still down 4-3 entering its last chance in the seventh, the Pioneers had no one on base with two outs. Chris Hernandez worked a walk, and Emmanuel Lopez followed with an RBI double to score courtesy runner Cole Horew for the tying run. Dominguez came up next with an infield single, and Lopez came around to score when a throw got away on the play.
Domingo then struck out the side in Midway's half of the seventh to finish off the win and earn the save. Smith got the win to improve to 6-0 on the year and add the victory to the save he earned earlier in the night. He pitched 1.2 innings of relief.