Point Park takes home sweep of Midway in #RSCBASEBALL Games of the Week
By Point Park Sports Information
VERSAILLES, Ky. – After two more close-knit games on Saturday, Point Park University took home the River States Conference Baseball Games of the Week series with a sweep over Midway University. The Pioneers secured wins of 4-3 and 6-3 on Saturday to win the series, 4-0.
Point Park (28-12, 20-4 RSC) came back from a 3-1 deficit to win Saturday's opener and then got out to a 5-0 lead in the nightcap and held on to beat Midway (22-21, 19-9 RSC) in the matchup of the top teams in the standings entering the weekend. With the series win, Point Park maintained first place with a 1.0-game lead over (RV) IU Southeast (32-9, 19-5 RSC).
Addison Domingo (7-3) was a key factor for the Pioneers on Saturday as he picked up the victory in relief of game one and then earned the save in the nightcap. He pitched two innings each game and ended the day with 4.0 innings, no hits, no runs, no walks and five strikeouts. For the series, he earned a win and two saves.
Point Park had three pitchers combine on a three-hitter in Saturday's opener. That allowed for the Pioneers' comeback to unfold with two runs in the sixth and the go-ahead run in the seventh.
Down 3-1 in the sixth, Point Park's Stefan Mrkonja led off with a single, stole second and scored on Richard Perez's base hit. Cole Horew, pinch running for Perez, moved to second on a passed ball, to third on Emmanuel Lopez's groundout and scored on another passed ball to tie, 3-3.
In the seventh, Danny Sanchez reached on an error to lead off then moved to second on Domingo's bunt. He later scored on another error.
Domingo worked a 1-2-3 seventh to finish off the win, an outing that had Amiel Abreu start and throw 3.1 innings followed by 1.2 innings of scoreless relief from Daryl Pino.
Midway starter Hector Quinones went 6.0 innings and took the loss. He struck out three, walked one, gave up four hits and two of the three runs he gave up were unearned.
Midway's lead of 3-1 had all three runs scored in the bottom of the fourth. There were two hits in the inning, the big one being Carlos Cespedes' RBI double. There was also a walk and a hit batter in the inning, and the other two runs came home via a balk and a passed ball.
The second game had the Pioneers get out to a 5-0 lead after three innings, and four Point Park pitchers combined to give up just four hits to make that lead hold up.
Point Park took control with four runs in the third. Erik Montero delivered a two-run double to stretch things out to 5-0. Earlier, Stefan Mrkonja singled, stole second and scored on Chris Hernandez's single.
Midway cut the score to 5-3 with three runs in the fourth, and it did so with one hit. A walk to Francisco Quinonez and a single by Reid Battles set up two runners on base. When Josh Wenning reached on a fielder's choice, an error on the play allowed two runs to score. Matt Olson's groundout brought home the other run.
Point Park got an insurance run on Manny Lopez's solo homer in the top of the seventh. That made the score 6-3 and came off of Midway closer Jake McCoy.
In the bottom half, Domingo finished off the game once again, this time for a two-inning save. It completed the game that had Anthony Garofalo start and go 1.1 scoreless, Logan Linder get the win with 2.0 innings of relief and Pino once again tossing 1.2 scoreless.
Midway had four pitchers throw with D.J. Lewis getting the staring and going 2.1 innings. Point Park had nine hits, and four of its six runs were earned.
Both teams have a big series next weekend once again. Point Park hosts IU Southeast in a matchup of the top current teams in the standings. Midway travels to Rio Grande for a meeting of the third- and-fourth-place teams.