SAN DIEGO - The series went about the exact opposite way the No. 24 Point Loma baseball team and coach Joe Schaefer would have drawn it up. After coming into the week with a 3-0 record, and never trailing in its previous series, Sea Lions struggled in all three games against Cal State Monterey Bay. The Otters completed the series sweep on Saturday with a 12-7 victory.
 
Things seemed like they were looking up for PLNU after Travis Takata hammered a solo home run in the fourth to give PLNU just its second lead of the series (1-0). But that shot just opened up the scoring gates for both teams. CSUMB responded with four runs in the top of the fifth to take a 4-1 lead. PLNU quickly answered back with a five-run bottom of the fifth, capped off by a go-ahead, three-run homer from Tyler Flores, his second of the series.
 
Cal State Monterey Bay came back once again with a six-run seventh to take back the lead at 10-6. An Adam Rios home run in the eighth would get the Sea Lions back to 10-7 and PLNU continued to rally to put two more runners in scoring position in the inning, but Tyler Triano came out of the bullpen and shut down the rally for his first save of the season.
 
Connor Fabing (1-0) earned the victory out bullpen. He took over for Levi Noddin during the Sea Lions' five-run fifth, and went three innings, allowing three hits and one earned run. Wyatt Shackleford (0-1) took the loss.
 
Team Records
Point Loma (3-3), Cal State Monterey Bay (3-0)
 
The Turning Point
Kyle Czaplak's three-run homer to cap off a six-run seventh was the final dagger to the Sea Lions. Despite being down just 10-6 after that home run, it felt as all the momentum went out of PLNU's dugout as the Otters were able to turn a two-run deficit into a four-run lead during the seventh frame.
 
Schaefer speaks
On Cal State Monterey Bay: "They are a good team. They were consistent offensively all weekend long. They hit mistake pitches when we left stuff up, they played pretty good defense and their pitchers did an excellent job of keeping the ball down and mixing speeds."
 
On playing from behind throughout the series: "Baseball is a game of momentum. When that momentum is in the other dugout you have to do things offensively or on the mound to grab the momentum back. We are a team that tends to score in spurts. I want to be able to in every inning, even if it is just one or two. It's nice to be able to score in spurts, but I'd rather be the team that is consistently putting pressure on the other team."
 
More on playing from behind: "It is hard to play from behind because it limits our opportunities on offense and our aggressiveness on the bases."
 
On his team: "I still believe in our team. We have a lot of heart and competitiveness. I am glad we had the opportunity to play from behind and learn some things. It was good for us to struggle through adversity and see who can handle it. Hopefully we learn from this weekend and come out as a better team next week."
 
News and Notes
> PLNU had not been swept at home since 2015 and this is the first three-game sweep by a non-conference opponent since Joe Schaefer became the head coach (2008)
> Micah Pries, John Balliet and Tyler Flores have all hit safely in all six games this season
> Flores has already matched his home run total from last season (three)
> Point Loma has committed three or more errors in four of six games
> Takata recorded his first career home run
> Of the 30 runs that CSUMB scored in the series, eight were unearned
 
Up Next
The Sea Lions will continue its 13-game homestand to start the season next weekend against Cal State Dominguez Hills (Feb. 15-17). The teams will play single, nine-inning games each day.