Point Park baseball (18-7, 11-1 RSC) swept the Brescia University Bobcats in a three game series at Wild Things and Pullman Park in the team’s first home stand of the season. The sweep comes after they dropped a doubleheader to Georgetown College at Wild Things park on March 21. The Pioneers still hold a firm grip on first place in the River States Conference after the dominating sweep over the Bearcats. 

Game one saw the Pioneers offense catch fire early in the contest in Washington, PA. A three run home run from sophomore outfielder Jared Campbell in the top of the first made it a 3-0 ball game, instantly. Jared Campbell, last week’s RSC player of the week, went deep again in the bottom of the third for a solo shot to straight away center field to give PPU a 4-0 lead. Point Park found another trio of runs in the following inning, with an RBI single from senior outfielder Justin Oakley and a two-run RBI double off the bat of sophomore infielder Omar Morillo to propel the Pioneers to a 7-0 lead. Junior infielder Isaac Santana struck a sacrifice fly to right in the bottom of the fifth to make it 8-0 before Morillo singled another run home in the sixth to go up 9-0. Morillo broke the double digit plateau for the Pioneers in the sixth after he scored on a throwing error to make it 10-0, which stood as the final score at the end of seven. 

Senior starting pitcher Easton Klien went the distance for the Pioneers and pitched all seven innings while only allowing three hits and striking out seven batters in the shutout victory. Jared Campbell led the way in scoring for the Pioneers with his two home runs and four RBI’s while Morillo went three-for-four with two doubles and three RBI’s in the dominant victory. 

Point Park’s offense broke out early again in the second game, with all of the runs coming in the second inning. In the bottom of the second Santana went deep to left field to rid the goose egg and take a 2-0 lead before junior outfielder Carlos Burroughs ripped an RBI single back up the middle to extend the lead to three. Neither team was able to generate any runs  after that as the Pioneers held on to the 3-0 advantage thanks to junior starting pitcher Joathan Rivera, who held the Bearcats to only four hits throughout seven innings.  

Rivera was the second pitcher of the day for Point Park to pitch all seven innings on the mound. He allowed four hits and eight punch-outs in his fourth win of the season. Burroughs led the way at the plate for the Pioneers as he went two-for-three with a double and an RBI. Santana collected the other two RBI’s while Oakley picked up the other double for his only hit in the win. 

The series finale was moved to Pullman Park in Butler, PA on Sunday, as the Pioneers looked to finish the series sweep over their RSC rivals. The offense didn’t show up as early as usual for Point Park, but the runs appeared in the bottom of the third. Jared Campbell stayed hot for the Pioneers and smashed a double to left center to score a run and take a 1-0 lead. Junior catcher Michali Brito followed up with an RBI groundout to extend the lead to two in the same inning. Morillo continued to swing the bat well for the Pioneers after he ripped another double to the right to score two in the fourth and make it a 4-0 game. Sophomore infielder Carlos Martinez  singled home to score Morillo and jump ahead 5-0 before Brito struck again with a double to center to bring home Martinez and make it 6-0. Pitching shut down both sides’ offenses for the rest of the contest, which kept the score the same through the final five innings as Point Park earned the three game sweep. 

Sophomore starting pitcher Javier Cordoso went seven-and-two-thirds innings in his fourth victory and allowed a single hit in the eighth inning, while he struck out 13 batters  in the masterclass showing. Freshman pitcher Ramon Rodriguez came in relief of Cordoso to get the final out of the eighth, before senior closer Sebastian Rodriguez came in for the ninth to close out the game. Sebastian Rodriguez struck out one batter. Martinez, Morillo, and Jared Campbell all had two hits in the game, as Morillo and Brito also produced two RBI’s.. Martinez had the only stolen base in the contest. 

The Pioneers will finish out the end of March visiting the Penn State-Mont Alto Nittany Lions on March 28 in a doubleheader in Mont Alto, PA. Point Park will return to Wild Things Park to take on a RSC rival in the Ohio Christian University Trailblazers for a doubleheader on March 31. The third game of the series will be played on April 1. PPU will stay in Washington, but not as the home team this time, as the Pioneers will take on the Washington & Jefferson College Presidents on March 4 in another double header. Schedule updates and streaming options are available on the Point Park athletics website.