box game one | box game two
SAN DIEGO – Point Loma Nazarene opened up Golden State Athletic Conference play with a doubleheader against The Master's College at Carroll B. Land Stadium Thursday. The Sea Lions and Mustangs split the twinbill, PLNU winning game one 8-4 with TMC taking the nightcap 5-2.
The split puts the Sea Lions at 8-7 on the year overall, 1-1 GSAC. The Mustangs are 12-4, 1-1 GSAC. The two squads will complete the four-game series on Saturday in Santa Clarita with a 10 a.m. twinbill.
Justin Lawrence was sharp in his fifth start as a Sea Lion in the opener. The 6-1 right-hander went through the Mustang lineup unscathed until the fifth inning. By that time the PLNU offense had put up four runs.
Clinton Harwick plated Tyler Hanzawa with the day's first run, that coming in the top of the first. Point Loma doubled their advantage with another in the third when Marcus Heisner scored pinch runner JJ Reading with a grounder.
Ricky Gingras, Tyler Nordgren and Bryan Burkhead and each smashed back-to-back-to-back doubles to open the fourth, the latter two driving in runners, as Point Loma went ahead 4-0.
The Master's got on the board with one run in the fifth. Then Loma rightfielder Trey Hunt blasted his first collegiate homerun in the sixth to dead center, a two-run shot, to give PLNU a 6-1 lead.
The Mustangs refused to go away though, scoring a run in the seventh and then pushing two more across in the top of the eighth after a two-run shot by Chris Talley made the score 6-4 PLNU.
Sea Lion freshman Garrett Gooding took over from Nolan Stouder at that point in the game and did a terrific job, striking out the side.
Burkhead, who had three hits, got both of the runs back in the bottom of eighth, lining a two-run shot over the rightfield fence. Gooding did the rest by closing out the Mustangs in the ninth – two more via strikeout – and picking up his second save of the year in the process.
Lawrence (3-1) went seven complete innings to earn the win, allowing two runs on six hits with five strikeouts.
Mustang ace AJ Work (3-1) suffered the loss after yielding six runs on ten hits in his seven-inning stint. He had given up just three earned runs all year in four outings prior to the loss today.
TMC opened up the nightcap with two first-inning runs off Loma starter Jack Archie. Steve Karkenny and Joe Riddle each drove in a run for the Mustangs, though only one was earned.
Point Loma halved the deficit in the bottom of frame. Leadoff batter Hanzawa walked and moved into scoring position on a Harwick single. After a wild pitch, Hanzawa scored on a hit from Tyler Nordgren.
The scoring stopped for the next few innings as Archie and his counterparts, Daniel Sheaffer and TMC reliever Zack Anderson, held both offenses at bay. The Mustangs broke through with a run in the top of the sixth on a solo shot from Chris Talley to make the score 3-1.
The Sea Lions pushed another run across on a RBI single from Eddie Roberts. For the second straight inning, however, PLNU hit into an inning-ending double-play that prematurely ended a potential rally.
TMC played small ball to perfection in the seventh. After a single by Ryan Shackelford and a groundout, the Mustangs bunted twice, both for base hits. The second bunt scored Shackelford to an insurance run. A bunt and a single by Riddle plated the inning's second run.
Archie fell to 1-2 with the loss after allowing three runs (two earned) in seven innings. Dani Schlarmann gave up two runs in relief.
Sheaffer won after going four innings and yielding just one run. Anderson gathered in his second save of the year with three solid innings.
