The Pioneer baseball team picked up it’s fifth conference series win this weekend, sweeping Brescia University in three games at Point Park’s home field in Green Tree, Pa.

The series opened up with a nine-inning game Friday afternoon that the Pioneers won 4-0. The next day, Point Park took two more wins. The first being a 17-2 victory in seven innings and a 10-1 win in nine innings.

Senior Felix Castillo started on the mound in game one for Point Park. The senior has recently become the first game starter after senior Nick Beardsley was sidelined with an injury this season.

“It’s a different mentality because when you come in as a second starter, you know what happened the first game and you can recognize mistakes that person makes,” Castillo said. “Now as the first guy, I’ll have some small misses because of that.”

Castillo pitched 7.1 scoreless innings while giving up seven hits and striking seven batters out.

Junior Ryan Huber replaced Castillo on the mound and picked up the final five outs without allowing a hit.

Point Park tallied runs on the board in the first inning with the help of Cole Horew. Horew lead the game off by lining a triple to deep center. Junior Antonio Carrillo followed up by notching a single past the shortstop to score Horew. Carrillo would also go on to score in the first with sophomore Luis Mujica bringing him around on a double to left-center.

The following inning, Point Park picked up another run off a one out solo home run off the bat of senior Yuri Sucart. On a 3-1 count, Sucart took a fastball to deep right-center field making the score 3-0 after two innings.

Both teams were held scoreless through the middle innings of the game. The Pioneers picked up their final run in the bottom half of the seventh with two outs against them. Batting second that inning was Horew, who singled to left. Senior Erik Montero followed it up knocking a single through the hole at second base.

After struggling at times this year, the Point Park defense played solid baseball, only committing one fielding error.

“It feels so good when they have a good day behind you because you can make a few small mistakes but it really won’t affect you,” Castillo said.

The next day, Point Park and Brescia were back at Green Tree Park for a double-header.

Point Park dominated the entire contest, scoring six in the first.

The Pioneer offense dominated the entire game. The team got off to an early start, scoring six runs in the first inning. The team added eight after scoring four runs in both the third and fourth. They picked up their final three runs in the fifth inning, putting into effect, the 10 run rule.

Point Park scored their 17 runs in game two off of 15 hits. Leading the charge for the Pioneers was Horew, who batted 2 for 4, while picking up five RBIs. Montero contributed by batting 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs. Sophomore Emille Morillo made the final offensive push, hitting a three-run homerun to score Point Park’s last runs.

The Pioneer pitching held up as well with Nick Bucci throwing a complete game. Through the seven innings pitched, Bucci allowed eight hits and picked up two strikeouts. Bucci allowed one run in the first inning and another come the fourth, but that was the only offense Brescia would achieve.

With his effort Saturday, Bucci improved his ERA to a team best 1.62. This also leads the entire River States Conference, which Point Park currently holds the top three spots of. Behind Bucci is Huber with an ERA of 2.20. Third on the team and in the conference is junior Marco Quintanar with a 2.78 ERA.

On the mound for the final matchup of the series was Quintanar who pitched the entire seven-inning game. Quintanar allowed just four hits in the contest and earned nine strikeouts. The only run allowed came unearned after an error in the seventh inning.

The final game saw Point Park pick up 13 hits with sophomore Ed Pfluger going 2 for 3 and finishing with two RBIs. In the third inning, Pfluger ripped his fourth home run of the year to pick up two runs and make the score 3-0.

Junior Tyler Dobie also contributed toward the offensive push, going 2 for 2 with two doubles and two RBIs. Dobie helped make the score 6-0 after lining a two-run double to the outfield in the fourth inning. 

Point Park sealed the deal in the sixth inning, after Pelaez hit a lead off home run to left field. Later on that inning, the team would score twice more to reach the 10-1 final.

Point Park will continue conference play next weekend as they take on Cincinnati Christian University in a four game series at Green Tree Park.