Park University's baseball program played well over the weekend in Sterlington, La. in the Cajun Collision hosted by NAIA Ball. The Pirates went 2-2 with a 2-0 start on day one against Louisiana Christian and LSU-Alexandria, and then falling to (RV) Science and Arts of Oklahoma and No. 13 Mid-America Christian.

Gilberto Torres was the talk of the tournament with a three home run performance that put him in as the Heart Player of the Week when he returned on Monday.

Louisiana Christian | W, 6-0 | Box Score

Game one was a full team effort in the 6-0 win against a team that already has three ranked wins on the year against No. 13 MACU, No. 12 Kansas Wesleyan, and No. 22 Tabor.
Behind the arm of Raul Garcia though, the Pirates were able to shutout Louisiana Christian 6-0 with only allowing two hits. Garcia struck out eight batters in his five-inning performance.
Torres in his first at-bat hit a deep ball for a solo home run in the first inning. The Pirates continued to build the lead in the fourth inning off of an RBI single from Gunnar Griffin. In the top of the seventh, the Pirates got some insurance runs on an RBI double by Torres, an error on the leftfielder scored two more runs, and then Houston Penrod made it happen with a single to centerfield to give Park the 6-0 win.

LSU-Alexandria | W, 6-3 | Box Score
The Pirates got to the lead again in game two against LSU-Alexandria a 3-5 team entering the contest.

A five run third inning made a statement for Park, as a lead off walk by Griffin and an error in the field snowballed into an RBI single opportunity for Torres. With two outs, Ricardo Hernandez had the bases loaded and delivered a grand slam to cap off Park's five-spot.

Eddie Freidel got the start for Park and the transfer from McKendree University got the win with four innings pitched and three strikeouts. Freidel threw a scoreless inning to start the game and kept the Generals off the scoreboard until the third inning. Three runs would score for the generals on two extra-base hits, including a solo home run.

At a 5-3 score, Jake Lufft hit a home run to give Park 6-3 lead in the fifth, but even without the home run, the relief from Anthony Padron, Dominic Coleman, and Jake Lufft was enough to keep the Generals off the board for the win.

The Pirates staff only allowed four hits to LSU-Alexandria and despite five walks, the group kept the Generals in check for the 6-3 win.

Lufft along with the solo shot, also picks up the save in his first pitching outing of his Pirate career.

(RV) USAO | L, 14-1 | Box Score

The next day was a reversal of fortunes for Park, as the Drovers of (RV) USAO scored runs in each of the first four innings for 11 runs by the time the fourth inning rolled around.
Jake Beckmann got the start and only lasted 1.1 innings on nine hits by the Drovers.

Michael Uhler in relief came in for the next two innings and another four runs would score with Uhler and Holdenried combining to get out of the fourth inning.

Dash Goldston threw a shutout fifth inning, but another three runs would score in the sixth on a couple RBI singles.

Park had their lone run in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single by Zayne Morrow before the game wrapped up 14-1.  

No. 13 MACU | L, 12-7 | Box Score

Mid-America Christian was one of the most exciting games of the series with four lead changes and nine home runs between both clubs, extending into extra-innings.

Bryan Aguirre, back for his second year at Park, battled with five innings pitched in a big matchup with an NAIA Top 25 opponent. The Evangels started off the game with a double, which led to the first run on a ground out to second. Aguirre would settle in for the second inning and even worked past a two-out walk to put up a zero on the board.  

Park backed up their starter with a two-out home run by Morrow in the bottom of the second. After the Evangels answered with a solo home run in the top of the third, the Pirates played the deep ball card again by Torres, this time a two-run home run to take the lead, 3-2.

Two more solo home runs would land on the other side of the Wall for the Evangels in the fourth and fifth innings, but the Pirates got it all back and more with the third home run of the tournament by Torres, a three-run shot to bring in Billy Rivera and Alex Rodriguez. Clutch is Morrow's middle name with his second two-out home run of game four to put Park up 7-4.
The lineup for the Evangels was lively and even when Sebastian Del Olmo got the first two outs in relief in the sixth, Mid-America Christian drove in a run on a double, walk, and a single, but Del Olmo maintained the lead for Park, 7-5.

The Evangels had their first multi-run inning of the game with a two-run home run in the seventh to tie it, 7-7. James Hays was able to prevent the go ahead run from scoring on third with a strike out, and two back-to-back pop ups.

The Pirates would be kept off the score board the rest of the game, and a five run eight inning would make this game look further apart than what it was, 12-7.

Park had nine hits in the game to Mid-America Christian's 14, of which were eight extra-base hits. Their five home runs were each by different players as well.