The baseball team continued their March road trip, visiting Brescia University in Kentucky and Indiana University (IU) Kokomo this week.

The Pioneers swept the remaining Brescia game on Sunday, March 1 and won one of the three games against IU Kokomo last Saturday and Sunday. They now stand at a strong record of 9-3, with a record of 4-2 in River State Conference (RSC) play.

In the final game of the series against the Brescia Bearcats, the Pioneers pulled through with a 9-4 victory for the first game of March.

Point Park scored first in the third inning and held a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth. After giving up four runs in the bottom of the sixth, the Pioneers bounced back instantly, scoring three runs in back-to-back frames in the seventh and eighth innings.

The bullpen shut the door on the Bearcats for the rest of the game, giving up two hits and no runs in the final three innings.

Sophomore infielder, Danilo Leon, went on a tear in the batter’s box, going 4-for-5 with four RBI and a triple to his name.

“When you put the ball in play, big things happen, and that’s what I did throughout the entire game,” Leon said. “Every time I go out to play I have the same mentality and it’s to help my team win by playing hard.”

Senior relief pitcher Ryan Huber picked up the win, relieving senior starter Cole Horew in the bottom of the sixth and pitching 1.1 innings. Junior Jonathon Pacheco closed out the game over the final two innings and earned the save.

In the first game of the series against IU Kokomo, the Pioneers defeated the Cougars 5-1.

The name of the game was pitching that day; Point Park’s Marco Quintanar went seven innings while only giving up a single run and striking out nine. Huber came in for the two-inning save, recording three punch outs and giving up zero hits.

In a rare occurrence, the Pioneers scored more runs than they recorded hits, with four hits compared to the five runs scored.

Junior Ed Pfluger was the main supplier of runs, hitting a three-run homerun in the top of the ninth to ice the game, with Horew (who can play outfield as well as pitch) and Senior Antonio Carrilo supplying the other runs in the sixth.

On Sunday, Point Park would lose both games of their doubleheader against IU Kokomo, suffering their first losses in RSC play. They fell 4-5 and 6-12 to the Cougars.

The Pioneers suffered a heartbreaker in game one, losing by a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth. In the second half of the double header, IU Kokomo exploded in the third inning for seven runs to put the game away early, even with Point Park scoring five runs within the first three innings.

Junior Carlos Sanchez was a major contributor at the plate in both games, going 4-for-7 and collecting seven RBI between the two games.

The men will be back in action on Wednesday, playing their first home games against Chatham University in a doubleheader starting at 2:00 P.M.

From there, the Pioneers will travel south once again, facing off against Georgetown College in Georgetown, Ky. on Thursday, then facing off at No. 22-ranked IU Southeast on Friday and Saturday. Saturday will also be a doubleheader.