SAN DIEGO - The Point Loma baseball team won both games of Saturday's doubleheader over Academy of Art to take three of four games in the series. PLNU received great starting pitching in both games. First it was Trevor Abshire that allowed just one unearned run over six innings while the Sea Lions staked him to a 12-run lead to win the opening game on Saturday, 6-1. Kevin Lillicrop might have been even better in the series finale as he allowed just two hits and one run in a complete game 6-1 victory.
 
Point Loma is now 23-13 this season and in sixth place in the PacWest standings with a 12-10 record. The loss dropped ARTU to 10-27 on the season and to 5-18 in the PacWest (eighth place).
 
Game 1
Point Loma had 12 runs on only five hits put up by the fourth inning and Trevor Abshire cruised to the 16-1 victory.
 
The Sea Lions took advantage of the free passes being handed out by ARTU, especially early as the Urban Knights walked eight in the first four frames. In the second inning, Devin Carter led off the inning with a walk and Kellen Sheppard followed with a single. Mike Gordner then blasted a three-run shot over the right field wall, for his sixth homer of the season. It did not stop there as the next batter Joseph Keller walked to start another rally. PLNU would load the bases for Ryan Garcia with two outs, and just as he has done in four of his other six at-bats with the bases loaded, he stroked a bases clearing home run to put Point Loma in front 7-0.
 
Point Loma would add five more runs to that lead in the fourth inning thanks to four walks, three wild pitches and a hit by pitch. Garcia and Devin Carter both drew bases loaded walks, before PLNU had two sacrifices for scores and Keller capped off the inning with a two-out opposite field RBI-single.
 
That would be more than enough for Abshire (3-3), who was sharp all day. He retired the first 12 batters of the game in order and finished with just four hits, one walk and an unearned run allowed over six innings of work. He also struck out three.  The Sea Lions bullpen also came through with three scoreless innings.
 
Garcia finished the game 1-for-3 with a home run, five RBI and two runs scored. He now has 12 home runs on the season and 49 RBI this season. Mike Gordner drove in a career-high four RBI in the game, thanks in large part to his three-run homer in the second. Tanner Handa reached base in all five of his plate appearances as he had a hit, drew three walks and got on via an error. Joseph Keller also reached base in each of his plate appearances as he was 1-for-1 with three walks, an RBI and two runs scored. Harley Glines also got in on the long ball party as he launched his first career home run with the Sea Lions in the seventh inning. 
 
"We had a lot of early base runners and we were able to draw some walks early in the game that were helpful," said Point Loma head coach Joe Schaefer. "We had guys in scoring position a lot and we had guys come through with hits in those spots which we did not have much of yesterday. It was nice to see the offense come around and capitalize on those opportunities."
 
Game 2
Kevin Lillicrop improved to 6-1 this season as he pitched a complete game, allowing just two hits and one run over seven innings while walking none and matching a season-high with eight strike outs.
 
After a perfect inning by Lillicrop in the first, PLNU put three runs on the board on an RBI-ground out by Devin Carter and a two-run homer by Kellen Sheppard. The junior pitcher/designated hitter finished the game 2-for-3 with three RBI to lead the Sea Lions. Devin Carter scored three of PLNU's six runs and also added a stolen base. Garcia also had a pair of hits and a run scored. Joseph Keller posted a two-out RBI for the third time in four games this season as he doubled down the left field line in the sixth to plate a pair of insurance runs.  
 
With the early lead Lillicrop cruised. He opened the game by retiring the first nine hitters, and after just a little blip in the fourth inning, he closed out the game by setting down the final 10 batters in order.
 
"The pitching staff did an amazing job all day and the two runs over 16 innings speaks for itself," said Schaefer. "They did a great job limiting base runners. We didn't give away free bases, and they did a great job attacking the zone to get ahead in the counts. We also played great infield defense today which we have not done a lot of recently. When we can pitch well and play good infield defense we are usually going to be successful.
 
"It was good to see us bounce back," Schaefer continued. "Game 1 was completely out of character for us and was very disappointing, but a good team can bounce back quickly and take care of business the next game. The goal every weekend is to win the series and this is the first weekend in conference that we have won a series at home. It was nice the guys were able to respond and play well after a tough game 1."
 
Next games
Point Loma will now face PacWest-leaders California Baptist in a four-game series. The teams will open the series with a game at Angels Stadium on Wednesday, Apr. 20 at 7:05 p.m. Tickets are still available at plnusealions.com. The series will then shift back to Riverside with a single game scheduled for Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday.