CARY, N.C. – Point Loma scored early and late in its first game of the NCAA Division II National Championships, earning an 8-1 win over No. 7 seed Illinois Springfield on Saturday evening at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
 
Otto Kemp scored two runs in the first two innings of the game and then drove in two more runs in the eighth inning to help lead the Sea Lions to their 49th win of the season. Baxter Halligan threw six one-run innings in his 13th win, while Zachary Veen and Cole Hillier combined for three shutout innings in relief as Hillier picked up his 16th save.
 
No. 2 seed Point Loma will advance to face No. 3 Southern Arkansas in the second round of the double-elimination eight-team tournament. The Sea Lions' second game of the national championships will begin at 6 p.m. local time on Monday. The winner of Monday's contest will get two days off and will be one win away from the championship series, while the loser will play again on Wednesday and need three wins in a row to win the top half of the bracket. Point Loma is now 49-8 on the season, while the Illinois Springfield dropped to 48-10.

"I'm extremely proud of these guys and the university," head coach Justin James said. "We practice hard for days like this, and they rose to the occasion. I haven't been around a group that is more energetic than these guys, and It's always positive energy. Even though they were a little nervous, it didn't show in their body language."
 
The Prairie Stars scored their only run of the game in the first inning on three singles, but Halligan induced a 6-3 doubleplay to end the threat and didn't allow a run for the rest of the game.

"I was really excited to start the game," Halligan said. "After the first couple of innings, I started landing my offspeed pitches. That really worked so I stuck with it the rest of the outing."

The deficit didn't last long with Point Loma scoring three runs in the bottom half of the first inning.
 
Kemp got his first of two singles to lead off the game and then Scott Anderson singled into centerfield to put two runners aboard. Halligan then helped himself with a single up the middle, driving in Kemp to tie the game. Hunter Otjen made it four singles in a row, driving in Anderson to take the first lead of the game. Jakob Christian then hit into a double play, which allowed Halligan to score from third place for a 3-1 lead.
 
Anderson got his second of three hits in the game in the second inning after Kemp reached on a hit-by-pitch. Once again Halligan drove Kemp home with a single to make the score 4-1, which is what the score remained for most of the game. Kemp has now scored 73 runs on the season, adding to his PacWest-record total.

"It was a big stage for me at first," Anderson said, "but once we settled in, I got more comfortable as the game went on."
 
Both starting pitchers settled in after the wild start, and the scoreboard in right field began to fill with zeroes. Halligan struck out four batters in the outing to push his total on the season to 115. He threw 113 pitches in the win as he lowered his ERA to 2.20 on the season.
 
Veen entered the game in the seventh inning, and though he issued just his third walk of the entire season and allowed two hits, no damage was done. Veen retired four batters and didn't let any runs on the board, getting a flyout to end the seventh inning.
 
Hillier entered the game with one out in the eighth and quickly got a flyout and lineout in just six pitches to put the Sea Lions just three outs away from victory.
 
Then the Sea Lions added to their lead in the bottom of the eighth inning with two walks, an error and two batters hit-by-pitch pushing a pair of runs across home plate for a 6-1 lead. Southern Indiana brought the infield in and then Kemp drove the ball right back up the middle to bring in two more runs. A pair of strikeouts and caught stealing ended the inning, but the damage was done with Point Loma taking an 8-1 lead.
 
Hillier then returned to the mound to go for his 16th save. He got the first two batters of the ninth inning to ground out to Anderson at shortstop, and then he struck out the final batter swinging to secure the 8-1 win. It is the first win by a PacWest team at the national championships in nine years and the first in the winner's bracket ever.