IRVINE, Calif. - The Point Loma baseball team split a doubleheader at Concordia on Saturday, Apr. 8, giving each team a series split.
Ryan Garcia continued his hot hitting in the opener, going 2-for-3 with a double, a home run and two RBI, to back
Trevor Abshire in a 4-2 victory. In the series finale, CUI scored nine straight unanswered runs after the fourth to win 11-5.
Point Loma is now 20-12 on the season and 12-8 in the PacWest. Concordia is now tied with California Baptist for second place in the PacWest standings at 15-9 (19-17 overall).
Game 1
Point Loma finally got the start it had been looking for as it jumped on Concordia with two runs in the first and single runs in both the third and the fourth to give their pitcher an early lead as it went on to the 4-2 victory.
Ryan Garcia got the Sea Lions on the board first with a double in the top of the first to score
Harrison Ramey and send
Micah Pries to third. Pries would later score on a sacrifice fly by
Kellen Sheppard. Garcia extended Point Loma's lead with a solo shot in the third, his eighth home run of the season.
Mike Gordner would score on an error in the fourth to make it 4-0 in favor of the Sea Lions.
Trevor Abshire gave up singles to the first two batters of the game but then settled down to hold the Eagles scoreless until the fifth before they finally got to him with a two-out double by Jair Donovan. He finished with five innings pitched, six hits, two runs, two walks and two strike outs.
Abshire (3-2) would give way to the bullpen in the sixth.
Noah Huggins went one scoreless inning before giving it up to
Patrick McMullen for the three-inning save. McMullen allowed just one hit by pitch during his three innings of work to earn his first save of the season.
Garcia finished the game 2-for-3 with a walk, a double, a home run, two RBI and a run scored. Over his last four games the senior first baseman has gone 10-for-13 with three doubles, three home runs, five walks, seven RBI and six runs scored.
Tyler Flores also collected a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a walk.
Mike Kileen (4-2) took the loss for Concordia after being charged with seven hits and four runs (three earned) over eight innings of work. He walked two and struck out two.
Game 2
The Sea Lions led 3-0 and 5-2 but they could not hold back the Eagles' bats too long as Concordia scored nine unanswered runs after the fourth to win the finale 11-5.
After Point Loma tacked on two insurance runs in the fourth on an RBI-groundout by
Mike Gordner and a sacrifice fly by
Tyler Flores to lead 5-2 but then it all fell apart. The first eight batters of the fourth inning reached for the Eagles, and aided by two PLNU errors, they went on to score five runs to turn the 5-2 deficit into a 7-5 lead. CUI would add two runs apiece in the fifth and sixth to put the game away.
Ryan Land went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBI to lead the Eagles which outhit the Sea Lions 15-7.
Kellen Sheppard and
Adam Rios both posted multi-hit games for PLNU as each went 2-for-3. Sheppard and
Ryan Casper scored two runs apiece.
Collin Orellana (3-0) earned the win for Concordia. He went six innings allowing seven hits and five runs (four earned) while walking two and striking out one.
Kellen Sheppard (5-3) took the loss after being charged with 11 hits and nine runs (seven earned) over 4.1 innings.
Next games
Point Loma will be at home next week to host Hawaii Hilo in a four-game series. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 15 and on Monday, Apr. 17. This will be the second-to-last home series of the season for PLNU.
