(SAN DIEGO) No. 23 PLNU Baseball honored the military with a doubleheader sweep of Holy Names on Saturday, which was Military Appreciation Day for the Sea Lions at Carroll B. Land Stadium.
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The two wins, 11-5 and 3-0, won the series for Point Loma and kept PLNU right in the thick of the PacWest title race.
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Point Loma wasted no time getting on the board in the bottom of the first of game one. After
Scott Anderson's double down the left-field line, Anderson advanced to third on
Jakob Christian's single before scoring on
Jake Entrekin's sacrifice fly.
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HNU scored twice in the top of the second to take a one-run lead, only for
Jack Malone to hit a solo home run that tied the game in the bottom half.
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The Hawks retook their lead in the top of the third, but
Owen May homered and
David Garcia grounded out to shortstop to score another and put PLNU up 4-3.
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A two-run shot for the visitors in the fifth made it a 5-4 game in favor of the Hawks. The score remained that way until the bottom of the seventh when the Sea Lions took advantage of a pair of HNU errors to score four runs and go ahead by three.
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Christian then hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth before Garcia rounded out PLNU's scoring with an RBI-single to center.
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Then after Holy Names shut out Point Loma, 3-0, in Friday's second game, the Sea Lions returned the favor in Saturday's nightcap to win by that same margin.
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Another two-run home run from Christian in the bottom of the third and a solo shot from
Hunter Otjen an inning later were more than enough offense for starting pitcher
Ray Cebulski (7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 5 K), who pitched his second seven-inning shutout of the season.
Christian now has 24 home runs on the season, which ranks first among NCAA Division I, II and III players.
Point Loma (28-12 overall, 16-8 PacWest) have a quick turnaround before hosting Fresno Pacific (21-17 overall, 15-8 PacWest) in a conference doubleheader on Monday beginning at noon.