Park University's baseball program was at Comfort Field on Friday and Saturday, March 21-22 in a four-game series with Benedictine College. The Pirates had a couple close games with the Ravens, but overall took the reigns of the series, 3-2, 17-9, 6-1, 7-1.

The Pirates are in good shape through four conference series and bump up to 15-8 and 11-5 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Benedictine has had a hard time in conference play at 2-14 with a 7-22 overall record.

Yadiel Santana was a big part of the series and earned a Heart Player of the Week award between the Mount Mercy and William Penn series. Against William Penn he was eight-of-12 at the plate with six RBI's with a home run and triple. Park now has four Heart Player of the Week awards from four different student-athletes in 2025.

W, 3-2 | Box Score
Park was in for a pitching dual in game one and the Pirates liked their chances with Raul Garcia slinging it. He pitched a complete game, only allowing four hits, two walks, and one earned run; while striking out eight Ravens.

An unearned run scored for Benedictine in the second, but Park was also given a run off of an error in the fourth inning to tie it 1-1.

Gunnar Griffin would give Park the go-ahead run with an RBI double to centerfield. Another error helped Park get their third run of the game to lead 3-1.

The Ravens had some life with a sacrifice fly to score their second run, but Garcia would not allow  a hit in his last inning and a third for his fourth win of the year.

W, 17-9 | Box Score
The bats came alive in game two with 15 hits for Park, while only being held to three hits in the game prior.

Two runs would score for the Ravens in the top of the first, but the Pirates had five hits in the first inning and capitalized on an error to put up six runs. All of Park's runs in the inning came with two outs, starting with a two-RBI single from Jake Lufft. A costly error would allow two more runs to score on an errant throw, while Yadiel Santana put Park up 6-0 on another two-RBI single.

Three more runs for the Ravens would cut the lead to only one run, but four straight runs for Park starting in the bottom of the third would pave the way to a 17-9 win.

Houston Penrod would have five RBI's for the game on a two-for-four game, while an RBI single by Gilberto Torres in the third and an RBI triple in the fifth put him at three-for-three with two RBIs.

Jake Beckman would toss scoreless third and fourth innings, moving to 2-2 on the year after five innings pitched in his start.

W, 6-1 | Box Score
Another masterful pitching performance was on display by Bryan Aguirre in game three with the  second complete game of the series by a Pirate. Aguirre did not allow an earned run to the Ravens only allowed five hits with five strikeouts. For his efforts, he was named the Heart Pitcher of the Week as well. Aguirre has had some of his best outings against the Ravens with a one-hitter tossed last season and both of his complete games the past two seasons have been against Benedictine.

Benedictine got to the lead first with a sacrifice fly in the top of the third, but immediately a balk in the bottom half of the inning tied things up, 1-1.

The next inning, Zayne Morrow gained the lead for the Pirates with an RBI double, followed by a sacrifice fly by Penrod to go up 3-1.

Some insurance runs were tacked on by Santana and Billy Rivera with RBI singles, while a passed ball also allowed another run to score, as Park held in the seventh for a 6-1 win. Aguirre moves to 3-1 on the year.

W, 7-5 | Box Score
Park got off on the right foot in the bottom of the first with three runs from a Morrow RBI single and a Lufft two-RBI double.

Lufft does damage from the plate, but limits it from the mound and he threw two scoreless innings to start his outing.

The second balk of the series scored a Raven from third base to make it 3-1.

Lufft would throw another scoreless fourth, but the Ravens got a beat on Lufft in the fifth with a four hit, three run inning to take the lead. Hank Holdenried came in with a runner at second and only one out. After a single to put runners at first and third, he made some excellent pitches to leave both runners on with two strikeouts.

Another lead change would take place in the bottom of the sixth after a scoreless inning thrown by Sebastian Del Olmo in the sixth. Lufft stayed in the lineup as the designated hitter and executed a sacrifice fly to tie the game, 4-4. Another error by the Ravens put Park up 5-4 going into the bottom top of the seventh.

The Ravens were able to tie the game after the Pirates elected to throw down to second with a runner at third, which the Ravens took advantage of to tie the game 5-5.

It came down to a monumental at-bat from Torres in the bottom of the seventh. Rivera had a two-out single to extend the inning, which was just enough window for Torres to come through in the clutch with a two-run home run, way over the left field fence at Comfort Field, 7-5.

Del Olmo picks up his third win of the season, all in relief.

Park takes a break from Heart play and faces No. 11 Oklahoma Wesleyan University in a nine-inning game on Friday at Comfort Field, beginning at 2pm. The Pirates will then hit the road to Bartlesville, Okla. the next day to take on the Eagles at their place for another single, nine-inning game. WATCH