HONOLULU - The Point Loma baseball team suffered two tough losses to Hawaii Pacific on Saturday, Mar. 5. HPU scored three in the seventh to come back and defeat PLNU, 4-2, in the opener. In the late game, the teams played into the 11th inning where the Sharks got a walk-off grand slam to earn the 5-3 victory.
 
Game 1: Garrett Irvin delivered another great performance in the opener, but the Sea Lions allowed four unearned runs, three of them in the seventh inning, and fell to the Sharks 4-2.
 
Irvin went the first six innings, allowing five hits and just one unearned run. He struck out four and walked none. He left the game after the Sea Lions had taken a 2-1 lead on Travis Takata solo home run in the top of the seventh.
 
Robert Ortiz came out of the bullpen in relief of Irwin, and pitched decent, but the Sea Lions' defense let him down en route to committing two errors and three unearned runs in the inning. PLNU would put two runners on with one out in the ninth before Joshua Savea locked down his third save of the season with a strikeout and a fly out. Tyler Van Stone (2-3) earned the victory by going the first eight innings and allowing four hits and two earned runs. He walked two and struck out three.

Game 2: Trevor Abshire was dealing for 8.1 innings. He was going right at the Sharks and had allowed just one hit and one walk, while striking out nine. He went into the ninth inning with a 1-0 lead. After striking out the leadoff hitter, Abshire walked the second and coach Joe Schaefer pulled him with 106 pitches thrown.
 
John Balliet then took over on the mound. After getting the second out on a pop up, he had to face the cleanup batter with the game on the line. This time it was the Sharks that won the battle. Christian Kapeliela doubled into the gap to bring in the tying run and send the game to extra innings.
 
After neither team scored in the 10th, Point Loma grabbed the lead with a two-run, two-out rally in the 11th inning. With one on, Micah Pries lined a hit through the infield and HPU proceeded to intentionally walk Tyler Flores to load the bases. Darian Sylvester made the Sharks pay for that decision by singling up the middle to drive in two and put Point Loma in front 3-1.
 
In the bottom of the 11th, HPU received three straight walks to load the bases with no out. Two of the walks came on full counts on close pitches. PLNU then found itself in another full count against Jordan Mopas with nowhere to put him. Mopas did not miss on the 3-2 pitch as he blasted it over the left field wall for the game-winning grand slam.
 
Nicholas Cornelius (0-1) took the loss after being charged with two runs in the 11th. Joshua Muneno (2-0) earned the victory.

 Team Records
Point Loma (7-8, 3-3 PacWest), Hawaii Pacific (9-5, 3-3 PacWest )

 Schaefer speaks
Coach Schaefer was not available for comment at the time of this release

 News and Notes
> PLNU starting pitchers combined for14.1 innings, six hits, two runs (one earned), two walks and 13 strikeouts
> Irvin now has a 2.10 season earned run average. Abshire lowered his ERA to 2.01
> Tyler Flores' 13-game hitting streak was snapped in the second game of the doubleheader
> All four runs PLNU allowed in the opener were unearned
> Abshire remains tied for 10th on the Sea Lions' all-time wins list with 19
> The nine strikeouts set a new career-high for Abshire
> Micah Pries was 3-for-6 in game 2 and his ninth-inning double gave PLNU the lead
 
Up Next
The teams will conclude their four-game series with another doubleheader on Monday, Mar. 5. The first game is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.