SAN DIEGO - The Point Loma baseball team capitalized on their opportunity to open PacWest Conference play with a four-sweep as pitchers Trevor Abshire and Stephen Young both delivered shutouts to lead PLNU to 5-0 and 2-0 victories on Monday, Mar. 6.
 
The sweep runs the Sea Lions' winning streak to seven straight games as they improve to 10-3 on the season and to 4-0 in the PacWest. The losses drop HPU down to 11-7 (1-5 PacWest).
 
The shutouts by Abshire and Young completed a great weekend by the PLNU starters. The four Sea Lion starting pitchers combined to pitch 32 innings, allowing 20 hits and just three runs, while striking out 27 and walking just five.
 
Game 1
Trevor Abshire went the distance allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out eight for his first career shutout in the 5-0 victory.
 
Point Loma put all five of its runs on the board in the first inning to stake Abshire to the early lead. Ryan Garcia and Tyler Flores each had RBI-singles in the inning before Wyatt Champlin capped off the scored with a bases clearing, three-run double. Champlin would finish the game 3-for-3 with two doubles and three RBI.

Abshire (1-1) would take it from there. He did not allow his first hit until the fifth inning and no runner advanced even to second base until the ninth inning. He had five perfect innings, including each of the first four.
 
"Trevor was dialed all game," said Point Loma head coach Joe Schaefer. "He was efficient, ahead on most counts and consistently down in the zone which is why he was able to go that deep into the game."
 
Micah Pries and Tyler Flores also had multi-hit games for the Sea Lions.
 
Game 2
Stephen Young nearly matched Abshire in the series finale. He pitched all seven innings allowing four hits and three walks while striking out two for his first career shutout. The performance lowered his season earned run average to 1.35.
 
The seniors provided all the offense Young would need. After a leadoff single by Kellen Sheppard started the second inning, Harrison Ramey doubled him in to put PLNU up 1-0. Ryan Garcia added an insurance run on a homer in the third and Young would take the Sea Lions the rest of the way to victory.
 
"Trevor and Stephen were very sharp today," said Schaefer. "They did an excellent job all day."
 
The shutouts by Abshire and Young completed a great weekend by the PLNU starters. The four Sea Lion starting pitchers combined to pitch 32 innings, allowing 20 hits and just three runs, while striking out 27 and walking just five.
 
"The infield defense was also incredible all weekend, which helped keep those pitch counts down and allow the pitchers to go complete games," Schaefer added.
 
The Sea Lions have now won seven straight and 10 of their last 11, while averaging 7.6 runs and allowing just 4.0 runs per game.
 
"We are pretty senior heavy team with a lot of experience and a lot of maturity which we felt would benefit us in a lot of ways. They believe in what they can do and have a lot of confidence to win in this yard. If they get down early in a game they aren't going to be scared, they know they can respond, and that is their experience.
 
"A conference sweep is huge," added Schaefer. "Regardless who it is against, when you can get four wins in a weekend in conference play it is massive. It creates a lot of momentum for us going into next weekend."  
 
Next games
Point Loma will head on the road for their next series at Holy Names on Mar. 10-11. The teams will play a four-game series.