For the last decade, the Point Park Pioneers' baseball program has been a standard-bearing program in the River States Conference. Having just one full season with less than 35 wins since 2013 would certainly back that fact up -- including a 38-win campaign in 2022 and a 39-win outing in 2023.

This season, Point Park's 19-8 start and 10-2 overall mark in the River States Conference prior to Friday had the Pioneers as the River States Conference's East Division leader again.

Shawnee State, however, made a statement on that front Friday evening.

The Bears, who are currently second to the Pioneers in the conference standings, showcased its own muscle Friday, rallying back from a 7-6 deficit in the latter stages of competition by scoring five unanswered runs to finish off play, notching the game-tying run in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly RBI by Zach Gaspar, then taking the lead in the eighth with a four-run frame where Ryan Scott scored on a wild pitch and Noah Sniadach added in a two-RBI double as Shawnee State dropped Point Park, 11-7, Friday afternoon at Branch Rickey Park in Portsmouth.

Shawnee State, who posted its 11 runs on 12 hits, were outhit by Point Park -- who posted 15 hits in accumulating its seven tallies -- but the Bears countered with a fantastic pitching effort in relief from Carson Wireman, who stymied Point Park's efforts by throwing four innings of three-hit baseball while striking out four in relief. Shawnee State left just seven batters on base offensively while Point Park, in turn, left twice as many runners on base, leaving 14 on.

The Bears immediately opened Friday's contest with a bang as after a single to right field by Nolan Tressler, Diego Mendoza clobbered a two-run homer to right center field to bring in the game's first pair of runs -- giving Shawnee State a 2-0 advantage after the opening inning of play.

Point Park rallied to tie the score at two in the top half of the second as after a hit by pitch, Michali Brito's single to center field put the Pioneers in a position to execute a perfectly timed double steal with Chris Williams scoring on the play. Brito was then brought in on Carlos Martinez's RBI single to tie the game.

Shawnee State and Point Park then notched a run apiece as an error and a solo home run by Point Park's Jared Campbell kept the score knotted at three apiece after three innings of work, and in the fourth inning of action, the Bears and Pioneers continued to swap the point.

After a walk by Martinez, Omar Morillo's single to left center and an error allowed Martinez to score, and after a single by Jared Campbell put runners at the corners, another double steal resulted in Morillo scoring. Singles by Williams and Brito then brought in Campbell, pushing the Point Park lead to a 6-3 margin heading to the bottom of the fourth inning.

Nolan Tressler, however, was determined to change that in a hurry. Following a leadoff single by Mejia and a hit by pitch, Tressler cranked a three-run home run to right field that tied the score at six apiece after four innings complete.

Point Park retook the lead in the fifth inning on a Jared Campbell RBI base knock that brought in Crixtian Taveras, but when Wireman came in to pitch in the sixth frame, Point Park failed to muster another run and only accumulated one extra base hit in the final four frames of action.

Shawnee State, meanwhile, was just heating up.

In the seventh inning, back-to-back singles by Tressler and Mendoza were followed by productive flyouts from Noah Sniadach and Zach Gaspar that allowed Tressler to score on Gaspar's sacrifice fly RBI to, once again, tie the score at seven runs apiece after seven innings of work.

Then in the eighth, the Shawnee State offensive attack broke through for good, as a single by Mejia, a sacrifice bunt, a hit by pitch and a walk was followed by a wild pitch that allowed Ryan Scott to score to give the Bears the lead for good. Sniadach then shot a two-RBI producing double down the left field line, and Gaspar reached base on an error -- providing the insurance runs needed for Shawnee State to finish the job.

Additional

Shawnee State (14-16, 8-5 River States Conference) moved to within two games of Point Park (19-9, 10-3 RSC) for a tie atop the River States Conference's East Division. A sweep puts the Bears in a tie for first place in the division -- and would also allow the Bears to officially double their win total from 2023, when SSU won eight contests.

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