SAN FRANCISCO - The No. 17 ranked Point Loma baseball team opened PacWest play with a doubleheader sweep of Academy of Art. PLNU won the opener 6-5 before putting up a season-high 17 runs in a 17-6 victory in the nightcap. (Mar. 1)
 
Game 1: Zack Noll struck out 14 batters over 6.0 innings, but Academy of Art was still ahead going into the seventh inning. That is when PLNU rallied for five runs, capped off by a two-out, three-run shot from Micah Pries to earn the 6-5 comeback win.
 
The Urban Knights got a solo home run in the second and two more runs in the sixth to take a 3-1 lead on the Sea Lions. After Colby Kaneshiro reached on a single and went to third on an error and a sacrifice, Noah Hennings singled through the left side to cut the lead to one (3-2). Following two more outs, Kyle Gracey was able to extend the inning with a 0-2, RBI-single to shortstop. Pries made the Urban Knights pay for not getting out of the inning earlier, as he pulled the fourth pitch of his at-bat over the right field wall for a three-run homer.
 
Robert Ortiz III would work a perfect seventh before running into trouble in the eighth. With one out, he gave up back-to-back singles, before Zac May posted a sacrifice fly to cut the Sea Lions' lead to 6-4. Nicholas Cornelius then came in the game and relieved Ortiz with two runners aboard. He gave up an infield single, which scored a run, before getting the next batter to lineout to end the threat. John Balliet pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save of the season.
 
Game 2: Point Loma put up a season-high 17 runs to cruise past Academy of Art in the nightcap, 17-6.
 
Brett O'Toole had a Point Loma season-best five hits as he went 5-for-6 with a double, two RBI and three runs scored. Travis Takata, John Balliet, and Nico Anderson each had three RBI, and 11 different Sea Lions scored a run in the game.
 
PLNU staked starter Jerry Quemada to an early lead with two runs in the first, three in the third and one more in the fourth. After ART U scored two in the bottom of the fifth, Point Loma responded with a season-high seven runs in the sixth.
 
Quemada (2-0) would not need nearly that many runs as he was very sharp over his six innings of work. The right-handed transfer from San Diego Christian struck out eight batters while allowing four hits, two runs, and no walks. He did not give up a hit until the fifth inning.
 
Five different Sea Lions registered multi-hit performances, and PLNU outhit ART U 20-7

Team Records
#17 Point Loma (11-5, 2-0 PacWest), Academy of Art (8-5, 0-2 PacWest)
 
Words from coach James
On Zack Noll's start: "He was exception early. His command was exactly as we teach it, and he was executing at a high level. In the end, he battled through some adversity, which I think will be good for him later in the season. He handled it well, and he kept us in the baseball game long enough for our offense to start clicking."
 
On Micah Pries' home run: "It started with a great two-strike battle by Kyle Gracey. He was able to get on to extend the inning which allowed Micah a chance to hit. He got all of it on that swing."
 
On the bullpen in game 1: "Nick and John have been excellent this year. Robbie is a good pitcher too, he just ran into some a little bit of traffic, and we were able to go to Cornelius. He has been super consistent for us early in the season, and it allowed us to bridge the gap to Balliet who is just a really good backend guy."
 
On Quemada's start in game 2: "Jerry was forcing a ton of early contact, which we are always preaching. He executed at a high level and kept the tempo up for us as well. He did a great job commanding his pitches and keep them off-balanced with the good mix of pitches. He deserves this. He has been working hard on his stuff on the side."
 
On the offense in game 2: "It all starts with the approach with two outs. These guys have been battling and putting balls in play to make things happen by doing that we are also able to grind down their pitchers. There were quality at-bats up and down the lineup for us all day. We always try to preach 'hard-contact,' and there was 'hard-contact' up and down the lineup all day. Brett O'Toole was outstanding with five hits."
 
On the defense: "It starts Miggy (Cazares) up the middle. He is a great leader and a very good shortstop. At third base, Noah Hennings made a spectacular play that saved a few runs for us early, and the rest of the guys were able to feed off that. I was very pleased with how the guys played defense today, and this season."  
 
News and Notes
> PLNU is 5-0 in Noll's five starts
> Quemada and Noll have a combined 72-to-23 strikeout-to-walk ratio
> Noll's 14 strikeouts moved him into a tie for sixth in school history for strikeouts in a game
> Point Loma's last five-hit performance was turned in by Adam Rios against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Apr. 25, 2017 (5-for-5)
> Kyle Gracey has gone 9-for-23 (.391) since moving into the starting lineup
> Balliet is now in sole possession of fifth place in school history for career saves (13)
  
Up Next
Point Loma and Academy of Art will conclude their PacWest opening series with another doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 2. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m.