box game one | box game two | photos
SAN DIEGO – Point Loma Nazarene swept a twinbill from visiting Fresno Pacific at Carroll B. Land Stadium on Thursday, 2-0 and 4-3. Justin Lawrence fanned 15 batters to lead the Sea Lions to the triumph in the opener and Bryan Burkhead's RBI single completed the PLNU comeback in game two.
Lawrence's 15 strikeouts ties him for third in the university record books with PLNU Hall of Famer Marty Decker (April 2, 1980 versus Cal Lutheran). The right-hander from San Diego Mesa College struck out the side in the first and second innings and fanned two batters in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh. The school record for strikeouts in a single contest belongs to Dan Auchard, who sent down 18 batters vs. Northwest Nazarene in 1995.
Lawrence (5-2) exited the game after seven scoreless innings and after 119 pitches. He allowed four hits and walked four batters. Taking the ball to start the eighth was Garrett Levsen who picked up where Lawrence left off, fanning two in the frame and one more in the ninth. The two PLNU hurlers combined for 18 strikeouts on the day.
The Sea Lions got all the runs they needed – one—in the bottom of the first inning. Third baseman Tyler Hanzawa led the inning off with a single to left, followed by shortstop Clinton Harwick's bunt single. Catcher Ricky Gingras followed with an opposite-field single that scored Hanzawa.
Point Loma had the opportunity to score more but a pop up, a strikeout and a failed double steal ended the Sea Lion threat. The two teams each stranded eight runners in the opener.
Sunbird starter Matt Mazzoni matched Lawrence with zeros from that point on until the bottom of the sixth. That's when PLNU designated hitter Tyler Nordgren lined a sac fly to center, plating Burkhead to give the Sea Lions their second run.
Game two began ominously for Point Loma when starter Chris Gonzales walked the first three runners he faced. Sea Lion head coach Joe Schaefer pulled Gonzales after the three free passes and replaced him with Sam Sadler.
Sadler hit the first batter he faced to force in a run. He limited the damage by fanning the next two batters and inducing a flyball however.
The Green and Gold defense helped FPU scored two more runs in the top of the third, though it could have been worse if not for two strikeouts by Sea Lion reliever Josh Dexheimer.
After four scoreless frames, PLNU finally got to Fresno Pacific game two starter Derek Benny in the bottom of the fifth. Benny uncorked a bases-loaded wild pitch that allowed Nordgren to score from third, but the Sea Lions managed just the one run, stranding three in the frame.
The Sea Lions evened the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth when Andy Littlefield singled home Trey Hunt and Marcus Heisner. Littlefield's base knock came with two outs and after a wild pitch had moved both PLNU runners into scoring position.
Hanzawa began the bottom of the seventh inning with a single to right field. After a strikeout, Gingras coaxed a walk, moving Hanzawa into scoring position. Burkhead followed with a hard single down the right field line to easily plate Hanzawa and give the Sea Lions a walk-off win and the sweep.
Earning the win was the sixth PLNU pitcher for the game, Dani Schlarmann (1-1) who threw a scoreless inning in relief as did Jack Archie and Chad Etchison.
The losing pitcher for FPU was lefty reliever Steven Lozier (0-1).
The two wins halts PLNU's four-game skid and moves the team's record to 15-20 overall, 8-14 GSAC. The Sunbirds fell to 17-16, 8-12 GSAC.
Both teams will bus up to Fresno to continue their four-game series with two contests on Saturday, starting at 11:00 am.
