SAN DIEGO – The Point Loma baseball team was able to bounce back in the series finale and defeat the No. 8 Azusa Pacific Cougars 2-1. PLNU did drop game one of today's doubleheader 8-4.

Game one: The Sea Lions lost a hard-fought battle with Azusa Pacific as their ninth-inning rally stalled when the tying run came to the plate.  

Azusa Pacific got on the board first in the third inning. The Cougars were able to drive in three runs to take a 3-0 lead. All runs in the inning came on home runs. Tido Robles hit a solo shot and Nick Estrella hit a two-run home run.

Easton Waterman brought the Sea Lions back within one after he hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth to cut the Cougar lead to 3-2. With momentum back on the Sea Lions side, they were able to shut down APU for the next two innings.
Azusa struck again in the seventh inning when Omar Lopez hit a grand slam down the left-field line and extend the Cougar lead 7-2. Point Loma did not go away quietly and responded with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the seventh cutting the lead to 7-4.

After APU picked up a single run in the eight PLNU would need a four-run rally to tie and a five-run rally to win. Baxter Halligan started the inning off with a single to right field. After Azusa recorded the first out and made a pitching change, Michael Whiteside singled advancing Halligan to third. With runners on the corners and one out was in business and ready to cut into the lead.

After the Whiteside single, Jason Dumont walked to load the bases. With one out and the bases loaded PLNU needed just one swing of the bat to get back into the game. James Halpin and Justin Ledgerwood came off the bench to pinch-hit in the next two spots but were unable to produce any runs.

The Cougars went on to win the game 8-4 over Point Loma

Game two: Dylan Miller shut down the Cougars in game two allowing one run on four hits and striking out seven batters over seven innings of work.

This time PLNU would strike first in the game. Otto Kemp got the Sea Lions on the board with a solo shot to the right-center. The Sea Lions would add a run in the fourth and that proved to be the difference in the game.
The first two batters of the fourth reached base before Michael Pineiro moved them up 90 feet on a chopper to the right side. Jason Dumont then drove in Baxter Halligan on a sacrifice fly to left field.

Dylan Miller was locked in from start to finish. Miller allowed a hit in the second, fourth, and sixth inning but the Cougars were unable to get any of the runners across.

Miller strukout the first hitter of the inning to add more momentum to the Sea Lions. APU quickly took that momentum back after a home run cut the lead to 2-1. Miller did not let that bother him as he got the last two outs and recorded the first complete game of his career.

Words from the student-athlete


Decisions
Game one: WIN Hayden Merda (1-0) LOSS Stirling Strong (0-2)
Game two: WIN Dylan Miller (3-0) LOSS Nick Estrella

Team records
Point Loma (7-9, 6-6 PacWest), #8 Azusa Pacific (17-4, 10-2 PacWest)

News and notes
> No relief pitchers entered the game in game two of the doubleheader.
> Otto Kemp extended his on-base streak to 14 games.
> Baxter Halligan has not had a batting average below .400 this season.
> This was the second complete game pitching performance by the Sea Lions. (Nathan Garkow and Dylan Miller).

Up next
Point Loma will travel to Irvine, Calif. to take on Concordia on Friday, April 9. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.