The Pioneer baseball team took two of three games this past weekend in the second conference series of the year facing off in Ohio against Rio Grande University.

Coming off their spring trip to Florida and a series win against West Virginia Tech University last week, Point Park entered the three-game set Saturday with a 6-5 record.

Both Pioneer wins came during a doubleheader Saturday afternoon with Point Park ending the first game of the afternoon victorious 10-6.

Junior Cole Horew started on the mound in the in the winning effort and pitched for 5.0 innings. Horew ended the game with four strikeouts and six runs given up. In the sixth inning, Horew turned the game over to the bullpen and junior Marco Quintanar finished out the contest.

The Pioneers took an early lead in the second and third innings after posting two runs on the board in each. Scoring began in the second with a two-run home run off the bat of junior Levi Martin. Sophomore Ed Pfluger also scored who reached previously off a leadoff double. In the third, Point Park capitalized on a throwing error made by Rio Grande allowing two more to cross the plate, giving the Pioneers a 4-1 lead heading into the fourth inning.

Rio Grande was quick to answer back scoring three of their own in the bottom half of the fourth inning to tie it up heading into the fifth. Answering back again, Point Park put four more runs across the plate in the top half of the fifth inning. The Pioneers did so off four hits and four errors committed by the Rio Grande defense.

Rio Grande rebounded putting two on the board in the bottom half, but that would be the last offense the team would see. The Pioneers went on to score once more in the ninth off a sacrifice fly hit by Pfluger.

Senior Nick Bucci started on the hill in game two and threw a total of 4.1 innings. Giving up three runs on only four hits, the senior turned the game over to sophomore  Ryan Huber to complete the fourth and pitch the fifth inning. Junior Ruben Ramirez closed out the contest.

Rio Grande was first on the board in the second game on Saturday scoring two runs in the first inning. Bucci got out of the inning only allowing one hit, but the Pioneers defense committed two errors with Bucci hitting one batter as well.

After a scoreless second, Point Park made it onto the scoreboard posting one run in the third inning which came off a single to right-center off the bat of junior Antonio Carrillo. Junior Julio Creazzola scored on the play who pinch ran for sophomore Luis Mujica.

With Point Park trailing 2-1 in the fourth inning, Rio Grande put up another run in the bottom half of the inning off a leadoff home run.

After a scoreless fifth inning, Point Park put a rally together in the top half of the sixth which began when Mujica doubled to right-center scoring one. Two more came after senior Erik Montero singled to right-center. The Pioneers put two more runs up before the inning ended and did so off six hits.

Rio Grande scored once in the bottom half of the inning but still went into the seventh trailing 5-4. In the top of the seventh Point Park put two more on the board which capped off the game. Point Park left victorious 7-4.

The series began Friday afternoon with a single game that Point Park dropped 13-5.

Senior Felix Castillo started for Point Park and received the loss after throwing for 3.2 innings. Castillo allowed eight runs on seven hits with one base-on-ball.

The Pioneers got on the board early taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the first after a two-run home run from Montero.

Rio Grande was quick to respond putting four men across the plate in the first inning.

Point Park was able to tie the game up in the top of the third scoring two, but it didn’t last long as Rio Grande put up one run of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

The Pioneers scored their last run of the day in the fifth inning when Carrillo singled to left-center scoring Montero who reached on a walk.

Rio Grande took control the rest of the way scoring three more in the fourth and fifth inning, and two more in the seventh.

After the weekend series, Point Park now sits in second place in the River States Conference (RSC) with an overall record of 8-6 and a conference record of 4-2.

Point Park will play a non-conference game Wednesday at Seton Hill and then will travel to Midway, Ky. to resume conference play this weekend against Midway University.