(SAN DIEGO) PLNU Baseball is making a habit of it.
Trailing or tied late in games, PLNU Baseball seems to rise to the occasion when it matters most.
Point Loma came up clutch late in both games of Monday's doubleheader with Biola, winning 4-2 and 6-5 to claim the non-conference series, taking three games out of four.
"It's been happening all year and this group just doesn't quit," center fielder
Jack Malone said. "We always believe we have a chance until the last out. We're never going to give up and good things happen when we believe in each other."
After
J.J. Gerarden provided the big hit in Saturday's first game, the Sea Lions scored on a wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the eighth of game one to break a 2-2 tie.
Then down by two and with two outs in the bottom of the sixth of the seven-inning second game, Malone hit a three-run jack to score what proved to be the winning run.
"That doesn't happen if the guys before me don't get on base," Malone said of his go-ahead homer. "Scott and Jake both wore pitches that inning to get on. I was just trying to hit a ball hard."
The late-game heroics came after the Sea Lions trailed early in both games.
Biola held a 1-0 lead in game one from the third inning until the sixth, when
Jake Entrekin and
Bryson Hashimoto both hit RBI-singles to put PLNU in front by one.
The visitors then tied the game in the top of the seventh on an error, before Point Loma scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to restore its advantage.
Seth Ryberg led off the inning with a base hit and then stole second before Malone walked. A double steal then advanced both runners into scoring position, setting the stage for Ryberg to score on a wild pitch and then Malone to cross home plate on
Joey Nicolai's pinch-hit sacrifice bunt.
Cole Hillier, who had already pitched a scoreless eighth, sealed the deal with a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the win.
Cole Colleran was in line for the victory after pitching six innings of one-run ball before the Eagles scored an unearned run in the seventh.
"He was lights out," catcher
Tommy Burleson said of Colleran. "He has really good stuff, I'd say some of the best in the conference. He really shined today and I'm happy for him."
Burleson picked up a pair of hits in his first collegiate start and was the only Sea Lion with multiple hits in the game.
Biola then got off to a fast start in the second game, scoring four runs in the second and adding another in the third to go up by five.
Hashimoto and
Connor Hill responded with back-to-back homers to lead off the fourth to cut BU's lead to three.
Nicolai was later hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to get another back in the fifth.
Then in the sixth,
Scott Anderson and
Jake Entrekin were both hit by pitches themselves to put two runners on for Malone, who did the rest with his moonshot to right.
Troy Wentworth put the finishing touches on the victory, striking out two in a perfect ninth to earn the win. The lefty struck out four in his two innings of work to record his third win this year.
Point Loma (16-8 overall) returns to PacWest play at Azusa Pacific with a doubleheader on March 31.
