FRESNO, Calif. - The No. 20 Sea Lions faced the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds Friday afternoon in the first of two doubleheaders on the weekend. The first game saw Zack Noll's first misstep of the season, giving up 11 hits in just four innings pitched and nine earned runs.
 
Game 1: Noll went just four innings in the series opener and the Sunbirds showcased their bats as they ran away with the game early. Fresno Pacific put up at least one run through the first six innings taking the game 12-6.
 
The Sunbirds put up three runs in each of the first two innings before Point Loma was able to get on the board in the top of the third. After Casey Dunlalp singled, Colby Kaneshiro added a ground-rule double before Micah Pries knocked his 15^th homerun of the season to cut the FPU lead in half. The Sunbirds would answer, though, with two runs of their own to expand their lead once again.
 
Point Loma went to the bullpen early with Connor Barrett going three innings giving up three earned runs of his own. JoJo Polanski got an inning of work under his belt and while he gave up two walks he did not allow a hit or a run in the eighth. The Sea Lions put together some offense in the top of the ninth but were only able to plate three runs before Pries flied out to the wall to end the game.
 
Game 2: Much like game one of the series the Sea Lions' starting pitching struggled in the early innings against a hot FPU offense. Jerry Quemada went just three innings in his start giving up 10 hits, eight runs (seven earned), while walking three. He did have five strikeouts in the short appearance.
 
Justin Ledgerwood added another 3-4 effort at the plate, including scoring once, as one of three Sea Lions to have a multi-hit effort. Pries was perfect at the plate going 4-4 including adding two more homeruns to his season total.
 
The Sea Lions had a chance to try to cut into the lead in the eighth, down just 8-4. Pries hit his second solo homer of the night with Ledgerwood doubling in the next at bat. Point Loma was unable to rally back and the Sunbirds answered with four runs in the bottom of the eighth to keep the game out of PLNU's reach.

Team records
#20 Point Loma (25-14, 13-8 PacWest), Fresno Pacific (16-19, 12-10 PacWest)
 
PacWest Implications
Point Loma falls six games back of APU in the loss column, meaning they will likely need help from other schools is they want a chance to take the PacWest title from the defending champs. The Sea Lions will also need to secure a quite few more wins in their final 10 games of the season to keep pace with the Cougars. The wins move Fresno Pacific into fourth place in the PacWest standings. 
 
Words from coach James
On Fresno Pacific: "They did a great job today. They played the game the right way. Oscar has always done a great job with this team. They had a lot of opportunities to capitalize on today and they didn't miss many of them."

On struggling to stop the Sunbirds: "We played two games today and that is a team I haven't seen all year and it happened to be in back to back games in one day. We are getting towards the end of the year where we need to be our best and we didn't get that today."

On what the team needs to do to bounce back tomorrow: "We have worked on everything we need to work on up to this point. We need to simply not talk about it and just do it. We need to play good baseball, if we don't this is what happens to you and you end up not being where you want to be at the end of the year." 

On Pries' performance on the day: "Micah is just a really good player. He cares a lot and he doesn't throw at bats away, which is awesome. It doesn't matter the score, he is constantly trying to pick up his teammates and he takes that energy into his at bats. He is a special player."
 
News and notes
> This was Noll's (8-1) first loss of the season.
> The loss is also a first for the Sea Lions when Noll has started (10-1).
> The three inning relief effort was Barrett's longest of the season.
> Pries now has 17 homerun's on the season just three shy of tying the PLNU record for homeruns in a season (20) set by Tyler Flores last season.
> Ledgerwood went 6-of-8 from the plate, including two doubles and a triple. 
>This was only the second time this season PLNU was swept in a doubleheader, the last time was on Feb. 16 against UC Colorado Springs.
 
Next games
Point Loma will continue their series with the Sunbirds tomorrow, April 20, at noon and 4 p.m.