Chad Blauer's pitching and clutch hitting was a recipe for success as ninth-seeded Point Loma Nazarene cruised to a 9-1 win over eight-seed Belhaven (Miss.) in an opening round game of the 2010 Avista NAIA World Series.

Blauer fanned 11 and went the distance while the Sea Lions pounded out 12 hits in Friday afternoon's triumph at Harris Field. The 17th-ranked Sea Lions improved to 39-18 on the year and advance in the winner's bracket where they will face hosts, and No. 1 seed, Lewis-Clark State on Saturday night at 7:00 pm.

"It feels great to a win on Opening Day," said PLNU Coach Joe Schaefer. "As a coach you are always concerned about how that first game will go. We are in a great position right now, right where you want to be. This is a great opportunity to play the host team under the lights, in front of a packed house. Our guys know what to expect, they will be ready."

Sea Lion centerfielder Allen Boyer opened the bottom of the first inning with a leadoff single against Belhaven's unbeaten starter Brandt Hinton. Boyer was forced out at second on an attempted sac bunt by shortstop Alex Cameron. Second baseman Tyler Kuehl rocketed a double to the right field corner to score Cameron for PLNU's first run. Kuehl made the second out of the frame when he tried to stretch the hit to a three-bagger but was nipped at third.

Point Loma Nazarene took a 3-0 lead after pushing across two more in the fifth. Leftfielder Rashad Taylor led off the inning with single followed by a double by third baseman Wes Katch to put two in scoring position. A RBI grounder by DH Steven Winnick plated Taylor and, after a pop up, catcher Drew Bernard tapped an infield grounder that Blazer second baseman Lake Eiland was slow to move on. By the time his throw reached first, Bernhard was past the bag, Eiland was charged with an error and Kartch scored all the way from second.

A three-run sixth doubled PLNU's advantage. Kuehl singled to center with one out in the inning and moved to second on a sac bunt by first baseman Jeff Fox. A RBI double down the left field line from Taylor pushed Kuehl across for the fourth Sea Lion run. Taylor stole second and scored when Kartch singled to right center. A wild pitch saw Kartch go to second and he chugged across the plate on a single to right by Winnick.

Blauer and the Sea Lions lived dangerously in every inning, Belhaven's leadoff batters reaching base five times in the opening seven frames. But the PLNU righty kept getting out of jams.

The PLNU senior starter gave up a leadoff hit in the first to Drew Dillard who moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Blauer fanned the next two batters though and the inning ended after PLNU catcher Drew Bernhard nailed Dillard attempting to advance to third on another errant delivery.

PLNU committed two errors in the top of the second with Blauer escaping damage by inducing two groundouts. The Blazers' leadoff hitter reached in the third without scoring as did the first batter in the fourth. A double play erased the latter threat but the fourth Sea Lion error of the game placed a runner on second. Blauer hit the next batter but notched his sixth strikeout to dodge another bullet as Belhaven stranded its fifth runner.

Belhaven finally struck for a run in the seventh. The first two batters reached with singles, putting runners on the corners. Centerfielder Jimmy Gilford hit a long sacrifice fly to deep left that Taylor tracked down at the fence. However, a grounder and a strikeout finished what could have been a big inning.
 
Eiland singled to start the sixth. After a strikeout for out one, Blazer third baseman Craig Dean doubled to left. DH Brandon Benton walked to load the bases. The next Belhaven batter, shortstop Shawn Diehl hit a hopper to Fox. Fox passed up the easy out at first and went instead to home, Bernhard applying the tag on Eiland for the out two. Blauer threw strike three past pinch-hitter John Williamson for the third out and Belhaven left their eighth runner on base.

The Sea Lions tacked on three more runs in the home half of the eighth. Kuehl rapped out another hit and came all the way home on a deep double from Taylor. A single by Kartch scored Taylor and finally chase Hinton. The third Belhaven miscue of the afternoon allowed Kartch to score for the ninth PLNU run.

Blauer (12-2) picked up steam from there, throwing just seven pitches in a 1-2-3 eighth and then set down the Blazers in order in the ninth.

After struggling in his last regular season start and in the GSAC tournament, Blauer has righted the ship and it couldn't have come in a better time. He struck out a career-high 16 batters in his last outing against British Columbia in the opening round tournament championship game and nearly matched that number Friday.

"Blauer had another great outing against a very good hitting team," Schafer said. "He kept them off balance all day. He also afforded us the opportunity to keep our bullpen fresh, and that is huge in a tournament like this. You never expect a complete game, to it is wonderful when you get it."

Kuehl, Taylor and Kartch each had three hits for the Sea Lions.

Hinton suffered his first loss of the season (12-1). Belhaven fell to 43-16. They will face either Lee or Lubbock Christian in a loser-out game Saturday at 8:30 am.

Notes….This is the first trip to the NAIA World Series for the Blazers…They had a heck of a travel plan to get to Lewiston. They bused 3.5 hours to Birmingham to catch a Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix and then Oakland and then Seattle, where they spent the night. Then they bused five hours on Wednesday to Lewiston…Belhaven head coach Hill Denson has a career record of 822-629….The Blazers were ranked 14th in the NAIA final regular season poll…

…PLNU is ranked #17 in the NAIA national poll. They were listed #2 to begin the year…This is Point Loma's sixth appearance in NAIA post-season play. They are now 17-8 all-time….Head coach Joe Schaefer led the Sea Lions to the NAIA title game in his first year as head coach in 2009….Coming in, PLNU has the fewest number of wins in the tourney (38-18), while host and #1 seed LC State is 47-3 and #2 seed Cumberland TN is 53-9.