Pioneers Take Fort Pierce Regional

FORT PIERCE, FL - Indian River took the first two games of the Fort Pierce Regional in a best of three series against Pensacola State to advance to the FCSAA Final Four in Tampa. The Pioneers came in as the number one seed hosting the former number one team in the NJCAA Division I Baseball National Poll as the eight seed. This will be the second time in three years the Pioneers will be heading to the Final Four.

In the first game of the series Indian River wins in the dramatic fashion as they walked-off Pensacola State in ten innings 7-6. The Pioneers were down 6-1 in the fifth inning but fought their way back scoring five runs in the eighth and ninth innings to tie the score. Chris Knier secured his seventh win of the year while Jace Trautner and Sammy Beir combined to throw four scoreless innings in relief to help feed the comeback. The Pioneers had seventeen hits in the game but nothing was bigger then sophomore Matt Rubin's walk-off single in the tenth.

With 1-0 lead and high spirits going into game two the Pioneers look to their veteran sophomore left-handed CJ Hanson. Hanson went 5 1/3 innings only allowing one run and striking out five before handing the ball off to the bullpen. Freshmen Justin Minaberry and Knier finished the last 3 2/3 innings to clinch the series. The offense was clicking again as for the second game in a row they had seventeen hits. Middle of the order accounted for ten hits lead by Danny Baez with four hits and Diego Alana with two doubles. Final score was 11-4 in favor of the Pioneers as they score in five of the nine innings with three of them being multiple run innings.

Indian River will play the winner of the Marianna Regional, Chipola, Friday at 1:00 p.m. in Tampa. The Pioneers improve their record to 39-12 overall for the year.

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