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WHAT'S HAPPENING:
Coach Joe Schaefer was thrilled two weeks ago when the Point Loma baseball team swept a four-game series at home against Fresno Pacific and this week's road sweep of Holy Names left him nearly speechless. The Sea Lions had just seven pitchers at their disposal in the series and each would be called on to get critical outs, and each would respond.

PLNU will need its pitching staff to step up again this week on short rest as it plays San Diego Christian in a nine inning game on Tuesday, Apr. 23 at 3:00 p.m. This will be the only game of the week for the Sea Lions. 

FOLLOW ALONG:
The game will be available for fans through video stream and live stats. Fans can access the game through the Sea Lions' website at www.plnusealions.com and clicking on the corresponding links on the right side of the page. Live stats can also be accessed directly at http://www.sidearmstats.com/pointloma/baseball/scoreboard.aspx and live video at http://www.americaonesports.com/partner_members.asp?id=138.

A LOOK AT THE SEA LIONS:
Point Loma carries an eight-game winning streak into its contest with San Diego Christian. During the streak the Sea Lions have averaged 6.25 runs per game and allowing less than three. Their run has moved PLNU to 25-20 on the season and into third place in the Pacific West Conference with a 21-11 record. Point Loma is now just two games behind Cal Baptist (28-14, 21-7 PacWest) for second place and 4.5 back of Grand Canyon (32-11, 24-6 PacWest) for first.

Tyler Garkow fourth in the league with a 2.36 earned run average and tied for second with seven wins. He leads the PacWest with 84 innings pitched and is second in complete games with four. He is also fourth in strikeouts (59) and is ninth in opponent batting average (.248). Relievers Garret Levsen and Brett Carlile own the best two ERAs for the Sea Lions at 2.01and 2.10, respectively. Levsen leads the PacWest win both saves (nine) and appearances (19). Fellow starter Justin Lawrence leads the league in strikeouts per nine innings (9.42) and is fourth in opponent batting average (.226).

Tyler Nordgren continues to leads Point Loma in hitting with a .360 batting average. He is also pacing the club with a .462 on-base percentage. Trey Hunt had perhaps the best weekend at the plate for the Sea Lions as he went 8-for-17 with four doubles, six RBI and six runs scored in the four-game set. Hunt raised his average 17 points over the weekend and is now second on the team with a .327 batting average. Bryan Burkhead has been the top run producer for the Sea Lions on the season. He leads the team in home runs (seven), 22 RBI and 31 runs scored. He is also pacing the club in total bases (66) and slugging percentage (.496). Mike Marcoux leads the team with 10 doubles and 13 stolen bases.

SCOUTING SAN DIEGO CHRISTIAN:
The Hawks are 31-16 on the season and 17-16 in the Golden State Athletic Conference. Jeff Lusardi leads the team with a .358 batting average. Chad Etchison leads the team in about everything else. He is batting .343 while pacing SDC in runs (51), total bases (99) steals (12), on-base percentage (.461) and slugging (.596). Taylor Eichhorst has 10 home runs and 47 RBI to lead the team in the power departments. As a team SDC is batting .305 and averaging 6.2 runs a game on the season. Gabriel Hemmer, Tyler Sanborn and Nick Greene each have six wins for the Hawks. Hemmer leads the trio with a 3.52 ERA.

SEA LIONS SEEK PLAYOFF BERTH:
With their eight-game winning streak the Sea Lions guaranteed themselves at least a .500 record, which they needed to qualify for the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) West Regional playoffs.  A maximum of four teams from the West will qualify for the regional. PLNU sat fourth behind Cal Baptist, Fresno Pacific and Arizona Christian in the last rankings which were released on Apr. 17. PLNU will close out its season with its one non-conference game against San Diego Christian and a four-game set with Cal Baptist.

PLNU PAIR MAKES HISTORY:
On Friday, Apr. 12th Sam Sadler and Garret Levsen teamed up to throw the first combined no-hitter in Sea Lions history as PLNU won 2-0. Sadler worked the first 6.2 innings against Fresno Pacific, allowing five walks while striking out four. He would end up loading the bases in the top of the seventh and PLNU head coach Joe Schaefer then turned to Levsen out of his bullpen to record the final out of the game which he did on a pop up to the shortstop. This was the first no-hitter for PLNU since Kenny Houser against Vanguard in 2008.

NEXT UP:
PLNU will close out its regular season with a four-game series against Cal Baptist. The teams will get together for single, nine-inning games at PLNU on both Thursday and Friday (May 2-3). The teams will then reconvene in Riverside, Calif., on Monday, May 6 at Noon to play a doubleheader to close out the series.