(SAN DIEGO) After starting out the year with four-straight wins, No. 4 PLNU Baseball suffered its first loss of the season on Monday, 7-4, at the hands of Northwest Nazarene in the final matchup of their five-game set.
 
"This was a good baseball game," Head Coach Justin James said. "Obviously, you're going to drop some games but I told the guys I was extremely excited at how tough they were and how they never gave up, not even for one single pitch. One more baserunner and it gets really interesting for everybody."
 
Overall, James said he is extremely happy with winning four out of five games against the fifth-ranked team in the NCBWA West Region Preseason Poll.
 
"We showed a lot of toughness throughout the weekend," James said. "We got a lot of guys in the game which is really good to see what you have and to get all the guys in the right seat.
 
"I thought it was a very good series. They're a very good team. Joe Schaefer runs a very good program and they have good players. They're usually in the postseason, so starting out the year winning four out of five definitely is a positive."
 
James especially liked what he saw offensively from his team, which averaged seven runs per game and hit 11 home runs in the series.
 
"I think we hit baseballs extremely hard in all five games," James said. "We try to keep it simple here offensively. The home runs are great but really what it comes down to is hitting the ball hard often and being able to be productive with your outs. I thought we did that and we put up some pretty good numbers this weekend."
 
One of those 11 home runs opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, when Jakob Christian launched a solo shot to left center field.
 
The Nighthawks then struck next, putting up a four-spot in the top of the third to take a lead they ultimately wouldn't relinquish.
 
The Sea Lions got one back in the bottom of the fourth when Scott Anderson roped a two-out double down the left field line off the third baseman's glove.
 
But NNU responded with a two-run homer in the top of the fifth and then scored another in the top of the seventh to go up by five.
 
Anderson's opposite field home run in the bottom of the seventh scored PLNU's third run, and then the Sea Lions put runners on second and third with nobody out. However, the visitors limited the Sea Lions to just one more run in the inning on an RBI groundout to minimize the damage.
 
Northwest Nazarene then maintained its three-run lead the rest of the way to take the final game of the series.
 
Point Loma (4-1 overall) next travels to play at No. 25 Cal State Monterey Bay in a four-game set Friday and Saturday. Doubleheaders both days are scheduled to start at 11 a.m.
 
"Going on the road is always a challenge no matter where you go," James said. "I think that it shows how tough your team is by how well they respond to things that don't go great while on the road.
 
"It'll definitely grow us up and teach us really quick because it's a long year. We've got to take it one series at a time."