SAN DIEGO - Three times the Sea Lions mounted rallies against California Baptist, and three times they were thwarted before they could tie the game or take the lead in a 6-5 loss to the Lancers on Friday, Apr. 24.
 
A great crowd of over 500 fans gathered at Carroll B. Land Stadium on Fiesta Friday to watch the No. 3 regionally ranked Sea Lions (31-12, 17-9 PacWest) host No. 4 California Baptist (27-17, 19-7 PacWest), and they all got their money's worth.
 
All six of CBU's runs were unearned as the Lancers took advantage of a pair of PLNU mistakes. They scored four in the fourth after the first three batters of the inning singled to load the bases. Luke Navigato smoked a ball off the third baseman to score two and they added two more on a pair of two-out RBIs.
 
PLNU got on the board for the first time in the series on an RBI-groundout by Matt Jervis in the sixth, and then a two-run homer by Ryan Garcia deep over the wall in right centerfield brought Point Loma within one at 4-3.
 
"It woke us up a little bit," said Point Loma head coach Joe Schaefer. "We struggled yesterday and halfway through this game to barrel anything. It took something like Ryan leaving the yard just to wake up our offense up a little bit."
 
While the offense for PLNU was just starting to find a little offensive rhythm, CBU already had theirs and they once again capitalized on another Point Loma error to add two more in the seventh and extend their lead to 6-3.
 
Point Loma mounted a rally in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to 6-5. Joseph Keller and Kellen Sheppard had back-to-back RBI singles to bring PLNU within one (6-5). Tanner Handa then reached on a fielding error to load the bases with one out. CBU then went to pitcher Aaron Crowley who was able to get the groundball double play he needed to escape the jam with the lead still intact.
 
In the ninth, Jervis led off with a walk but PLNU could not get him to second as the tying run and they fell 6-5. PLNU is now 12-3 in one run games.   
 
David Herd (5-1) earned the win for the Lancers after going the first 5.2 innings. He allowed four hits and three runs while striking out nine. Crowley earned his third save of the season after pitching the final 1.2 without allowing a run. Kevin Lillicrop was the tough luck loser. Despite not allowing an earned run, Kevin Lillicrop was saddled with the loss after four unearned runs crossed the plate while he was one the mound.  
 
"I thought we responded well the second half of this game," said Schaefer. "Hopefully we can come out tomorrow and keep it rolling a bit.
 
"There is something on the line in every game from here on out," Schaefer continued. "That's because these guys have done a good job the first two-third or three-quarters part of the season. They put themselves in position to have something on the line every game the rest of the season.
 
"We lose the first two games of this series but this is a huge opportunity for these guys to learn," he added. "This is essentially playoff baseball from here on out. You drop a game to a very good team and you have to find a way to come back the very next day and win a ball game. It's just like the playoffs. This is a huge learning opportunity and hopefully we respond well tomorrow."
 
The Sea Lions and Lancers will close out their four-game series with a doubleheader tomorrow (Apr. 25) starting at Noon.