SAN DIEGO - Point Loma entered Saturday with the hope of a series sweep against Dixie State, after taking both games on Friday, but the Sea Lions were forced to settle for the series split as the Red Storm won both games on Saturday (Apr. 9). DSU received strong pitching from both their starters to take the opener, 5-2, and the series finale, 4-0.
Point Loma slips back to 20-12 on the season and back to even in the PacWest at 9-9. The wins helped Dixie State (30-8, 18-6 PacWest) stay within two games of first-place California Baptist in the PacWest standings.
Game 1
Dixie State's Dylan File went eight innings allowing four hits and two runs, while walking five and striking out six to lead Dixie State to the 5-2 win in the opener.
File (4-0) took 125 pitches to make his way into the ninth inning where the Sea Lions finally broke through with a two-run homer off the bat of
Mike Gordner. Even with the shutout gone and the pitch count piling up, File stayed in the game. He followed the gopher ball by hitting
Derek Rustich with a 2-1 pitch and was then pulled. Dixie State went to its closer Spencer Greer, who retired the next three Sea Lions in order to notch his third save of the season.
"(File) is a good arm and he did a good job out there," said Point Loma head coach
Joe Schaefer. "He challenged us with fastballs and we weren't ready, and didn't make the necessary adjustments."
Trevor Abshire (2-3) pitched very well in his start for the Sea Lions. He gave up one run in the first and nothing again until seventh. He retired 12 of 13 hitters between the second and sixth innings, with the only exception being a hit by pitch. Abshire took the tough-luck loss finishing with a final line of 6.1 innings pitched, seven hits and two runs allowed. He walked one and struck out six.
The game was close going into the ninth with Dixie State in front just 2-0, but a three-run home run by Trey Kamachi with two outs proved to be the difference. Kamachi finished the game 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI.
"We did a great job yesterday and unfortunately weren't able to carry it into today which was frustrating," Schaefer said.
Game 2
As good as Dylan File was in the opener for Dixie State, Mason Hilty was even better in the nightcap en route to leading Dixie State to the 4-0 win in the series finale.
The games played out nearly the same. Dixie State scored early and their starter worked in to the last inning before a Point Loma put runners on to knock him from the game and then Spencer Greer came in to earn the save.
Hilty improved to 8-0 by throwing six shutout innings. He allowed five hits and five walks while striking out two. It was Greer's fourth save of the season.
Once again PLNU's starter pitched well but was saddled with the loss.
Kevin Lillicrop (5-1) went six innings allowing nine hits and three runs while walking one and striking out six. It was his first loss since he faced Dixie State last season.
Mike Gordner had two of the Sea Lions' six hits, including a double.
Derek Slate, who got the start at second base for the Sea Lions, reached base in all three of his plate appearances as he had a single and two walks. Four Red Storm players recorded multi-hit games including Mile Bice who was 3-for-3 with a run scored.
However, when the Sea Lions did threaten with runners on they made some mistakes on the bases to take themselves out of scoring opportunities.
"Game 1 started to pile up into game 2," said Schaefer. "The guys made some bad decisions and tried to just do a little too much in situations we don't need them to do that.
"We are a good offensive ball club and we had plenty of opportunities in game 2," added Schaefer. "We just made some bad choices on the base paths and we didn't take advantage of the runners we had. We need someone to deliver the big blow when someone is in scoring position and didn't come through today."
Many times teams would be happy to split a series against the defending conference champions but Point Loma had much higher expectations after winning both games of Friday's doubleheader.
"You split against one of the best teams in the conference that is a good weekend of baseball but for how we played yesterday to come out and not perform well is the most frustrating part," Schaefer explained. "We lost two ballgames but what is more frustrating is we just didn't play well. We did a great job yesterday but we couldn't carry it over to today. We are a better team than we showed today.
"I believe we can compete for a playoff spot but we have to put consecutive ballgames and consecutive days of baseball together," he added.
Next games
Point Loma will be back at home next Friday and Saturday to host a four-game series against Academy of Art. The teams will play doubleheaders on both days starting at Noon.
