Point Sweeps CIU, Starts Year 2-0
WEST POINT, Ga. - The Point University baseball team began its season with a double header sweep of Columbia International (S.C.). The Skyhawks triumphed 3-0 in game one and 8-2 in game two, holding the Rams to just four total hits.
Point and CIU return to action tomorrow for another double header. Game one begins at 1 p.m. followed by game two scheduled for 4 p.m. at West Point Park Baseball Field.
Point 3, CIU 0; 7 Innings
Point starting pitcher Daniel Crabtree faced the minimum in the top of the first inning, with a double play wiping out a one-out walk. The Skyhawks then wasted no time plating their first run of the campaign. Bailey Stroud worked a leadoff walk and Arwin Burgos followed with a single. Later in the frame, Stroud scored from third on a single by Damian Hernandez, giving Point a 1-0 advantage.
Crabtree remained untouchable, sending the Rams down in order in both the second and third innings. CIU did not manage a hit until there was one out in the fifth inning, a single off the bat of Kai Smith. A Point fielding error put two on for the Rams with one out, but Crabtree induced another double play to end the threat.
The Skyhawks scratched two more across in the bottom of the fourth. Logan Waldrup led the frame off by being hit with a pitch and Tommy Hoye walked with one out. Back-to-back singles by Josiah Palomino and Stroud drove Waldrup and Hoye home, extending Point's lead to 3-0.
Crabtree continued to deal in the fifth. Despite a leadoff single, Crabtree recorded his first two strikeouts of the season against the next pair of hitters, capped off with an inning-ending strike-him-out-throw-him-out twin killing. The senior finished off his day with a clean sixth inning, including his third strikeout of the afternoon. Crabtree's final line read six innings pitched, no runs allowed, just two hits surrendered, one walk and three punch outs.
Point went to Eli Kirby out of its bullpen to pitch the seventh inning. The senior tossed a one-two-three frame, earning his first save in a Skyhawks uniform and sealing Point's victory in its first contest of the season.
Point 8, CIU 2; 7 Innings
Redshirt freshman Vittorio Iacobucci got the start for Point in game two and, despite allowing a walk and a double, pitched a scoreless top of the first. The Skyhawks went quietly in the bottom of the first and neither squad managed to scratch a run across in the second.
After a perfect top of the third by Iacobucci, Point broke through in the bottom half of the inning. A Palomino walk and a Burgos single put two on for Brady Bye who launched the Skyhawks' first home run of the season, giving them a 3-0 lead. The senior third baseman equaled his long ball total from last season, when he hit one in 43 appearances. Point loaded the bases later in the inning and added another tally when Dylan Lindsey scored on a wild pitch.
The Skyhawks got two more in the fourth. Palomino led off the inning with a walk. Stroud then singled through the right side and Palomino advanced to third. A throwing error allowed Palomino to score, and Stroud sailed to third base. He scored when the next batter, Burgos, lined a double down the left field line. The Skyhawks led 6-0 through four frames.
They made it 8-0 in the fifth on a Bye double that scored Palomino and Burgos, lifting the senior to five RBI in the contest. He had 22 all of last season.
Iacobucci went five innings while allowing no runs, one hit, two walks and striking out three. The Rams scratched across a pair of runs in the seventh, but that was all they managed as the Skyhawks closed out their second victory of the day and the young campaign.
