IRVINE, Calif. – The Point Loma baseball team dropped two non-conference games to PacWest foe Concordia in dramatic fashion on Friday, Feb. 21.
GAME ONE: The Sea Lions jumped out to an early lead thanks to
Travis Takata. In the top of the third inning after and
Izayah Alvarez single, Takata needed just two pitches to get the Sea Lions on the board. With that swing, the Sea Lions were ahead 2-0.
Zack Noll would have another strong outing going six-plus innings and not allowing a run until the sixth. He would strike out six but would leave allowing four runs, only three were earned.
The Eagles would get one run in the sixth cutting into the Point Loma lead. PLNU responded with a run of their own in the seventh when Takata came up big again with an RBI single to left scoring
Miguel Cazares. Concordia would not shy away, after knocking Noll out of the game they would go on to score three runs on three hits. The Eagles would lead 4-3 after six innings.
PLNU tied the game up in the ninth inning. With one out in the inning, the Sea Lion rally was started. Takata tripled to center field,
Otto Kemp followed him with a walk, and
Baxter Halligan would drive Takata in with a single up the middle. The rally would go no further and would go to the bottom of the ninth tied 4-4.
After
Steven Elliott retired the first two batters of the inning Matt Lautz dug in for the Eagles. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Lautz launched a deep fly ball down the left-field line that cleared the fence but was ruled foul.
The CUI head coach would come out to plead his case that it was fair and would get his way. After two and half minutes of deliberation, the umpires ruled the ball fair and the Eagles would walk off the Sea Lions.
Steven Elliott would be tagged with the loss going 2.2 innings in relief. Pagett would get credit for the win.
GAME TWO: Concordia kept the momentum they had from the first game and posted three runs in the second inning on three hits. Point Loma would tie the game in the fourth when they got three runs of their own.
The fourth opened up with the first three Sea Lions reaching base.
Scott Anderson would then get hit by a pitch to bring in the first Sea Lion run.
Easton Waterman then stepped in and singled to bring home one run. After
Miguel Cazares flew out for the first out of the inning
Izayah Alvarez singled to right-center to bring in the third run of the inning and tying the game at 3-3. The rally would end there though as Takata grounded into a double play that would end the inning.
The Concordia bats came alive in the fifth as they posted two runs on three hits and taking a 5-3 lead. After a leadoff single,
Nathan Garkow would exit the game going four-inning allowing four runs and striking out four.
PLNU would get two on in the ninth and try to spark some magic but fell short dropping the second game of the doubleheader 5-3.
Because Garkow did not go five innings,
Jerry Quemada would get tagged with the loss while CUI's Alex Zalasky picked up his first win of the season.
Team Records
Point Loma (4-6, 0-0 PacWest), Concordia (9-3, 0-0 PacWest)
News and Notes
> This was the first two games of eight total games the teams will play this season.
>
Travis Takata has reached base in 19 of his last 20 games played.
> The 13 hits in game one are most by the Sea Lions this season in a single game.
> This is the second time this season the Sea Lions out-hit their opponents but lost. (Jan. 31 vs. MSU Billings)
>
Up Next
The Sea Lions will return home and host Concordia tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 22 for another doubleheader. The first game is set for 11 a.m.
