SAN DIEGO-Riding behind their sixth double-digit hit performance in eight games, the Point Loma Sea Lions (8-0 overall) completed a four-game sweep of the #13 Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks (2-6 overall) with an 8-5 victory Saturday afternoon at Carroll B. Land Stadium.

Hunter Otjen led the hit parade with 4 of Point Loma's 14 hits and earned the win on the mound as the Sea Lions open the season with 8 straight wins.

Four other Sea Lions had multi-hit games and Cole Hillier closed out his second save of the year as Point Loma posts its best start to a season in the Division II era and extends its longest winning streak since 2017.

For the 2^nd day in a row, Northwest Nazarene struck first singling home Tyler Best who led off the game with a double.

But Nathan Garkow settled in and Point Loma backed their starting pitcher.

Otto Kemp led the bottom of the inning off with an infield hit and advanced to second on an errant throw from the NNU catcher Rumble Reyes. Scott Anderson promptly doubled him home before scoring on a moonshot from Seth Ryberg. The two-run homer sailed over the right field fence and Point Loma staked itself to a 3-1 lead.

The Sea Lions tacked on a run in the bottom of the 2^nd when Kemp grounded out to score Otjen, after his first hit of the day.

Northwest Nazarene answered with a two-run homer in the top of the third but Baxter Halligan belted his 4^th homer of the year to right field pushing the lead back to 5-3  after three innings.

Point Loma, who had committed just 3 errors in the first seven games, made a rare mistake in the 5^th that opened the door in the top of the 5^th for the Nighthawks. With two on and two out, Grant Kerry reached on the error with Tyler Best coming in to score, pulling NNU back within one.

The 5-4 score remained until the bottom of the 7^th when Kemp leadoff the inning with a double and PLNU benefited from a NNU error. Halligan cashed in Kemp with a double, Ryberg singled home Anderson and Otjen singled in Halligan, pushing the Sea Lions lead to 8-4.

Otjen, who moved from DH to the mound in the fifth, was cruising into the ninth before allowing a leadoff single. After striking out a batter, he issued a walk and potential double-play ball opened the door for Northwest Nazarene.

Cole Hillier came on with the bases loaded and induced a sacrifice fly before punching out Kerry to seal the game and the sweep.

Point Loma puts an exclamation mark on the impressive week, totaling 29 runs in 34 innings with 44 hits, 10 doubles and 8 homers in the four-game series.

The pitching staff was equally impressive allowing just 6 earned runs over the same time frame, striking out 41 batters while surrendering just 23 hits and walking just 8.

The Sea Lions will put their eight game winning streak on the line next Friday, February 18^th when they host Cal State Dominguez Hills at Carroll B. Land Stadium at 2:00pm.