RSC Baseball Day 1 Recap: IU Southeast, Point Park, IU Kokomo win openers
RSC Baseball Day 1 Recap: IU Southeast, Point Park, IU Kokomo win openers
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- Day 1 of the 2018 River States Conference Baseball Tournament is in the books with the first three games of the six-team, double-elimination tournament taking place Thursday, May 3. The conference championship continues through Sunday, May 6 at VA Memorial Stadium.
No. 1 seed IU Southeast, No. 2 Point Park University and No. 4 IU Kokomo were the winners on Thursday. IU Southeast (38-10) marched to the winner's bracket with a 17-4 win over No. 6 Brescia University (12-34) in seven innings to start the day. Point Park (42-7) opened with an 11-2 victory over No. 5 Midway University(24-23), and No. 4 IU Kokomo (31-19-1) beat No. 3 University of Rio Grande (26-25), 11-3, in the night game.
For the complete scores, stats and updated bracket and schedule, visit our RSC Baseball Tournament Central Page.
NO. 1 IU SOUTHEAST 17, NO. 6 BRESCIA (KY.) 4 (7 INN.) -- Box Score
Top seed IU Southeast broke the game open with nine runs in the third inning on its way to a 17-4 victory over No. 6 Brescia in the opening game of the tournament. IU Southeast (38-10) belted three homers in the game with Nicholas Lugo going deep on a three-run shot for a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
The nine-run third made the score 12-0, and the outburst included Cody Maloon's three-run blast, a two-run double by Lugo and a two-RBI triple from Josh Beams. There were six hits in the inning. Lugo ended up 3 for 4 with a homer, two doubles, six RBIs and three runs. IU Southeast totaled 17 hits, including a solo homer by Daniel Brescia later on in the game.
Maloon finished 3 for 4 with his homer, a double and three RBIs. Josh Beams was 2 for 3 with three RBIs and two runs. Collecting two hits each were Jordan Branz, Korbin Williams and Nolan Rogers.
Jack Wohlert pitched 5.0 innings for IU Southeast to get the win. He scattered six hits and put up four zeros at the start of his outing. Brescia starter Hunter Kloke lasted into the third inning and gave up six runs.
NO. 2 POINT PARK (PA.) 11, NO. 5 MIDWAY (KY.) 2 -- Box Score
No. 2 seed Point Park hit three homers and built a big lead early on its way to an 11-2 win over No. 5 seed Midway (Ky.) University in the second game of the day on Thursday. The Pioneers scored five runs with two outs in the second, including a two-run homer from Reynaldo Adames to open the scoring for a 2-0 lead. Edberg Dominguez's two-run double was the fifth two-out hit in a row, and Stefan Mrkonja's base hit to drive in a run came next for the 5-0 lead.
Ben Herstine's three-run homer in the fifth built the lead to 10-0. Herstine was 3 for 4 with three RBIs and three runs. Richard Perez belted a solo shot in the seventh for an 11-2 advantage. Perez was 3 for 4 with two doubles, his homer and three runs. Adames finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs. The Pioneers had 13 hits.
Nicholas Beardsley got the win in 7.0 innings of three-hit ball. He allowed only two runs with seven strikeouts and two walks. He took a 1-hitter into the seventh inning.
Brandon Aoki started for Midway and took the loss in 5.0 innings. The Eagles got as close as 10-2 with Kurt Paldino's solo homer and Koy Lindsey's RBI groundout in the seventh. Midway had four hits with Barrett Croslin getting two of them.
Point Park plays No. 4 IU Kokomo on Friday at 7 p.m. Midway faces No. 6 Brescia (Ky.) in an elimination game on Friday at 11 a.m.
NO. 4 IU KOKOMO 11, NO. 3 RIO GRANDE 3 -- Box Score
No. 4 IU Kokomo made its RSC Tournament debut with an 11-3 win over No. 3 Rio Grande in the final game of Day 1 Thursday night. The Cougars are in their first year competing as a program, and they had a lot of big hits to back eight strong innings of winning pitcher Renton Poole.
Just about all of IU Kokomo's eight hits were big ones as they resulted in 11 runs. Poole did his part giving up only three runs and five hits over 8.0 innings. He racked up nine strikeouts and only one walk.
It was a pitcher's duel between Poole and Rio Grande starter Zach Harvey for the first seven innings. IU Kokomo was up, 2-1, on Tavon Lindsay's clutch triple in the sixth. That scored Jared Heard from first. An inning later, Heard delivered a two-run double for a 4-1 lead.
Rio Grande did get within 4-3 on solo homers by Michael Rodriguez and Eli Daniels in the bottom of the seventh, but a seven-run eighth inning turned the game toward the Cougars in a big way. IU Kokomo batted around with the big hits being Max McKee's RBI base hit and Dalton Clarke's three-run triple. Clarke had two doubles and a triple, and his double way back in the fourth tied the game at 1-1.
Harvey pitched into the eighth inning and gave up five hits. He struck out six and walked five, one of which as intentional. Juan Cruz had three of Rio Grande's six hits with a 3-for-4 performance, which included two doubles and a run.