SAN DIEGO – The No. 3 and No. 4 teams in the latest NCAA West Region rankings hooked up in an old fashion pitchers' duel on Thursday at Carroll B. Land Stadium, and Cal Baptist's Adam Hofacket was able to win the battle with PLNU's Eric Pierce, 2-0 in the series opener on Thursday, Apr. 23.
 
Hofacket (6-4) pitched the complete game shutout for the Lancers, allowing just three hits along the way, while striking out seven and walking just one.

"He did his job," said PLNU head coach Joe Schaefer. "He did a good job getting ahead and making us swing at bad pitches. We didn't make adjustments offensively and we swung at pitches out of the zone."

Eric Pierce (7-4) took the loss despite the strong start. He went 6.1 innings allowing five hits and just one run. He walked four and struck out two. This is the first time all season Point Loma has lost a two-run game. PLNU is now 4-1 in such contests, and 16-3 this year in games decided by two runs or less. 

"Pierce was excellent today," said PLNU head coach Joe Schaefer. "He did an outstanding job executing a gameplan and keeping the ball down against one of the best hitting teams in the region and the bullpen did a good job pitching out of a couple jams. 

The game was scoreless into the seventh inning before California Baptist mounted a rally with two walks and an infield single to load the bases with one out. With the bags full, Aaron Crowley chopped on the grass in front of second base in which Matt Jervis' only play was the out at first base as the first runner of the game crossed the plate on an RBI-groundout. CBU added an insurance run in the eighth on a two-out, RBI-single by Luke Navigato for the final 2-0 margin of victory.
 
Devin Carter had two of the Sea Lions' three hits in the game. He also added his 12th stolen base of the season. Navigato was 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored to lead the Lancers. CBU left 11 runners on base while PLNU stranded just two.
 
The victory moves CBU (26-17, 18-7 PacWest) one game ahead of PLNU (31-11, 17-8 PacWest) for second place in the PacWest standings.
 
These teams will continue with game two of their four-game series on Friday, Apr. 24 at 3:00 p.m. 

"The nice thing about playing a series over three days is we get to come back tomorrow and write a new story," said Schaefer.