No. 20 Point Park finishes off sweep of Fisher (Mass.), Torres reaches 600 Career Wins

WASHINGTON, Pa. -- No. 20-ranked Point Park University baseball is 4-0 after finishing off a season-opening sweep of Fisher (Mass.) College on Saturday from Wild Things Park in Washington, Pa. The Pioneers won 6-3 and 9-4 to push head coach Loren Torres over 600 career victories.

Torres, in his 15th year at Point Park and 20th year as a college head coach, now has 601 wins in his career. Saturday's opener gave him the milestone win. He is ranked within the Top 25 of active NAIA coaches for career victories. Torres has 494 wins since taking over Point Park in 2009. 

GAME 1 -- POINT PARK 6, FISHER 3

Point Park had leads of 2-0 and 6-2 on their way to the opening victory on Saturday. Jared Campbell had a two-run homer in the bottom of the first for the ealy advantage. He had just made a great catch in center field in the top half and then went deep later in the inning on his way to 2 for 4 with two RBIs.

Omar Morillo was 2 for 3 with a double, triple and two RBIs. His double in the fourth extended Point Park's lead to 6-2 and came two batters after Carlos Martinez had driven in a run with a double of his own. 

Point Park had seven hits in the game with five going for extra bases -- three doubles, a tripe and Campbell's homer. Isaac Santana had a double and a sacrifice fly in the game. 

Point Park used four pitchers to cover the seven-inning game. John Hawley went the first 3.1 innings and handed a 2-2 tie over to the bullpen for the last 3.2. 

Jose Moreno got out of the fourth to strand a runner with a double play. Ethan Parker pitched the next 1.2 innings with three stikeouts, no hits and no runs to get the win. Joathan Rivera earned the save pitching a 1-2-3 seventh to close it out. 

GAME 2 -- POINT PARK 9, FISHER 4

Point Park broke ties of 2-2 and 4-4 to complete the series sweep of four games. The Pioneers scored the final five runs with four in the decisive fifth inning and one more in the sixth.

With the score tied at 4-4, Jared Campbell walked to lead off the Point Park fifth. He moved to second on a wild pitch and although he got hung up in a rundown between second and third a few pitches later, he got out of the jam and scored when one of the throws got away. 

That opened up the inning for RBI doubles by Luis Gonzalez and Jean Santos to add on. Crixtian Taveras finished off the inning with a run-scoring single. 

Tavares was 3 for 3 with three RBIs. His two-run triple brought in two runs in the fourth inning and broke up a 2-2 tie. 

A double and a couple errors in the top of the fifth allowed Fisher to tie up the score at 4-4.

That kept Point Park starter Ethan Van Scoy out of the decision although he had struck out nine in his 4.1 innings before coming out. In his first start at Point Park, he scattered four hits with only one of the three runs charged to him being earned.

The bullpen took it from there with Ethan Parker getting out of the jam in the fifth stranding the go-ahead run at second and eventually earning the win. Jose Moreno and Logan Creamer retired all three batters they faced in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, to end it. 

Other leaders for Point Park were Chris Williams 2 for 2 and Eddie Javier Jr. joining Jared Campbell and Gonzalez scoring two runs each. 

NEXT UP

Point Park is going to Georgia and Florida the next two weekends. The Pioneers play at No. 2-ranked Georgia Gwinett next weekend, where they will also face Toccoa Falls (Ga.) for a total of three games Feb. 16-17. The Pioneers then go to Florida Feb. 23-26 for a total of five games, which starts out versus No. 1 Southeastern (Fla.) and No. 12 Webber International (Fla.). They conclude that trip versus Mt. Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) and Cornerstone (Mich.) on the final day.