ORLANDO, Fla. - - UVa-Wise and Point Park University split a doubleheader at the Russ Matt Spring Invitational Monday. The Pioneers took game one 18-3 before the Cavaliers won game two by the count of 13-9. Freshman Greg Duncan earned his first collegiate win while fellow freshman Nate Thompson belted his first collegiate homer, a grand slam that gave UVa-Wise the lead for good in the finale.

Point Park (3-3) pounded out 22 hits en route to the win in the opener. Stefan Mrkonja had a pair of hits and two RBI while first baseman Richard Perez lined three hits, scored three times and knocked in a pair for the Pioneers.

UVa-Wise (5-8) received two hits from freshman catcher Tyler Blaum in the loss while sophomore David Thomas lined a two-RBI single.

Nicholas Beardsley was the winning pitcher as he tossed six innings of shutout ball. Beardsley allowed four hits while striking out six without issuing a walk.

Game two saw the Pioneers jump out to an early lead again as Logan Linder knocked in Edberg Dominguez to make it a 1-0 game in the second inning. Later in the frame, Cole Johnson doubled in a pair of runs before a Mrkonja base hit gave Point Park a 4-0 lead.

Junior second baseman Stuart Paz got UVa-Wise on the board in the third inning when he plated Dante Salerno with a double in the third. The Cavs got within a run when senior Vinny Kuchenbuch's single scored Paz and Thomas later in the frame.

In the home half of the inning, Dominguez singled home Montero to push the lead back to two runs at 5-3.

Hank Banner's club tied the game in the fourth on a sacrifice fly off the bat of freshman Jordan Turner and a fielding error by the Pioneers.

Again, Point Park answered as Mrkonja lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to score Andres Herrera making the score 6-5 after four innings.

In the fifth frame, Thompson blasted his grand slam to give his club a 9-6 lead. A Thomas two-run single would preclude a run-scoring hit by Paz to make the score 12-6 in favor of UVa-Wise. The Cavs added a seventh run in the frame when Paz scampered home on a wild pitch.

Daniel Sanchez would get the Pioneers within five runs on a run scoring double in the fifth.

Point Park would load the bases with one out in the sixth trailing 13-8 only to see the opportunity go by the wayside as sophomore Alex Dobry would come out of the bullpen to shut the door.

Dobry would get Dominguez to groundout, scoring Richard Perez but would allow no more damage as he earned his second save of the year.

Duncan earned his collegiate mound win by tossing four innings of six-run ball. Five of the runs were earned as the freshman fanned four and allowed one walk.

Thomas finished 3-5 with two runs scored and two RBI, Thompson finished 2-3 with two runs scored and four RBI in the win. Salerno, Paz and Mattheew Branham also had two hits each as UVa-Wise finished with 15 hits in the win.

The Cavs will take tomorrow off before returning to action Wednesday against Kentucky Wesleyan.