After suffering five losses to California Baptist this season, the Sea Lions got a win when it counted most, defeating the Lancers 7-6 in an elimination game at the 2010 NAIA World Series Monday. PLNU will take on Oklahoma City at 11:00 am (time changed) Tuesday.
 
"I told our guys before the game that today was a whole new year as far as us and California Baptist is concerned,” said PLNU Coach Joe Schaefer. “The other five games mean nothing today."
 
The heart of the Sea Lion order did most of the offensive damage against the No. 3-ranked Lancers. Three-hitter Tyler Kuehl went 4-for-5 with two RBI, cleanup batter Jeff Fox had three hits and drove in two and fifth-place hitter Rashad Taylor smashed a two-run homer and had three RBI.
 
Steven Winnick earned the win for PLNU with six-innings of work to improve to 10-3 on the season with Robby Ross tossing the final three frames to earn his third save.
 
Third-seed California Baptist scored in the top of the first when Zach Hedges hit a bloop single to right, just beyond the reach of first baseman Fox, plating Garrett Rau from second.
 
PLNU, the 9-seed, put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the frame. Kuehl roped a double to the right field wall followed by a shot by Fox that caught the left field line for a RBI double. Fox moved to third on a wild pitch and came home on a single to right by Taylor.
 
The Lancers evened the score in the next half inning after a double by Drew Madrigal and a RBI grounder from Kody Sepulvida.
 
The offense took a break as the rain began to fall for a few frames, but the Sea Lions flashed the leather. Rightfielder Jack Diamond made a terrific grab at the wall to rob Madrigal of extra bases in the fourth and Fox turned a nifty double-play in the fifth when he snared an attempted bunt on the fly and stepped on the bag to nail a CBU runner.
 
The rain fell even harder during the middle of the NAIA tilt, arousing speculation that the game might be delayed.
 
"I had no idea if we would keep playing or not,” said Schaefer. “Or how long it takes to pull a tarp and put it back on, because we just don't deal with those things very often. But I really don't think it was that big of a factor overall in the game."
 
Despite the downpour, play continued uninterrupted.

Madrigal burned Winnick for a two-out RBI single in the sixth to put the Lancers ahead by one. The Sea Lions answered in the home half of the sixth, however. Fox rapped out a leadoff single and Taylor launched his 16th homer of the year to dead center to put PLNU back in front, 4-3.
 
Kuehl came through with a RBI double in the seventh that scored shortstop Alex Cameron all the way from first. It was Kuehl's 27th two-bagger of the year, adding to his Point Loma single-season best mark. Fox delivered another RBI hit to push the Sea Lion lead to 6-3.
 
Ross, who entered the game to start the seventh, bailed himself out of a jam by picking off Brian Sharp at first base. The pickoff turned out to be huge after CBU failed to convert on a walk and a hit.
 
Kuehl knocked home pinch-runner Ronnie Chester with an eighth-inning single. The second baseman's 62nd RBI of the year looked to be just another run to extend the Sea Lion lead at the time, but would prove to be much more than that later.
 
PLNU centerfielder Allen Boyer made a nice grab of a line-drive for the first out of the ninth. The Lancers weren't about to go down quietly though. The next two batters singled before Ross fanned Rau for the second out. Sharp, the GSAC Player of the Year, turned on a Ross offering in the next-at bat and put the ball over the left field fence, closing the CBU deficit to just one run.
 
The Lancers were now just one swing away from a tie but Sharif Othman smoked a liner to left that Taylor snared for the final out of the game.
 
“CBU is a darn good ball club, they had one of the most impressive runs in GSAC history this year,” said Schaefer. “Even with a lead, I knew we weren't safe. We were up three on them in the ninth inning at our place and they came back to beat us.”
 
The victory pushed 17th-ranked PLNU's record to 40-19 while the Lancers end the year with a 49-15 mark.
 
Winnick gave up three runs on six hits during his time on the hill. Ross also yielded three runs, surrendering five hits. Both pitchers bent, but never broke against the powerful Lancer lineup.
 
“We made some adjustments today, especially Steven [Winnick] and Robby [Ross], and it paid off,” said Schaefer. “Winnick is a bulldog, our players voted him as our MVP. He is a gutsy guy and he gave an MVP performance today."
 
CBU utilized six hurlers. Starter Erik Wallace lasted just one inning though Mike Barrio (4-1) was hung with the loss.


NOTES: California Baptist won the GSAC regular season championship and the GSAC tournament before rolling through Group 2 of the NAIA Opening Round to reach the 10-team World Series in Lewiston, Idaho. The Lancers swept the four-game season series with PLNU and hammered the Sea Lions 16-6 in a GSAC tournament tilt.

Besides owning the single-season record in doubles, Kuehl is also Point Loma's leader in hits. After his four hits on Monday the junior has 89 on the season. Two more RBI and he moves atop the university record books in that category as well. Boyer is one homer away from setting a PLNU single-season mark.

All NAIA World Series games can be viewed live via pay-per-view at Watch Live. PLNU's games scores are updated regularly at www.twitter.com/plnusports.