(SAN DIEGO) If No. 23 PLNU Baseball ends up winning a second-straight PacWest championship, the Sea Lions can look back on Monday's doubleheader sweep of Fresno Pacific as one of the key reasons.
 
In the midst of a brutal closing stretch with 10 games in eight days, playing against an FPU team that did not play this weekend, Point Loma's pitchers combined to throw 14 shutout innings, as the Sea Lions won 10-0 and 5-0 to take a major step toward a conference title.
 
Point Loma (30-12 overall, 18-8 PacWest) now has four games remaining against Academy of Art and with wins in at least three of those, PLNU will claim the PacWest crown.
 
Kaden Lewis started on the bump in game one, pitching five shutout innings to earn the win despite pitching on just two days of rest.
 
Jonathan Kozasky then got the ball in game two for his first career start, not allowing a run in his three innings of work.
 
Lewis was locked in a pitchers' duel to start the first game, with no runs being scored in the first that took just over 30 minutes. Then after Lewis pitched a scoreless fourth, the Point Loma offense broke loose.
 

Scott Anderson gives @PLNUBaseball a 1-0 lead over Fresno Pacific in the bottom of the 4th. pic.twitter.com/nyyd2nhY92

— PLNU Sea Lions (@PLNUSeaLions) April 24, 2023

 
Scott Anderson led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo shot to straightaway center, before PLNU added three more runs in the inning on David Garcia's double down the third base line, a wild pitch and Tommy Burleson's single.
 

Owen May makes it 5-0 @PLNUBaseball over FPU, leading off the bottom of the 5th with a solo shot. pic.twitter.com/iD8JgNXYL8

— PLNU Sea Lions (@PLNUSeaLions) April 24, 2023

 
Owen May then led off the bottom of the fifth with a homer to left, before the Sea Lions scored five in the sixth.
 

3-straight innings with a home run for @PLNUBaseball, as Jack Malone goes yard to make it 7-0 Sea Lions in the bottom of the 6th. pic.twitter.com/l23q34kasS

— PLNU Sea Lions (@PLNUSeaLions) April 24, 2023

Jack Malone added two more with a no-doubter to right, before Jakob Christian cleared the bases with a double down the right field line to make it 10-0 in favor of Point Loma.
 

Jakob Christian caps off a 5-run 6th inning for @PLNUBaseball with a bases-clearing, two-out double to right.

Point Loma leads 10-0. pic.twitter.com/BYBCeIlyhd

— PLNU Sea Lions (@PLNUSeaLions) April 24, 2023

 
Hunter Otjen then pitched the second of his two scoreless innings in the game, as PLNU run-ruled FPU, leading by double digits through seven, thus ending the game.
 
In game two, Point Loma's offense picked up right where it left off in the first game, with Garcia's three-run homer in the bottom of the first giving the Sea Lions an early lead.
 

David Garcia's 3-run shot in the bottom of the 1st gives @PLNUBaseball a 3-0 lead in the second game of a doubleheader against FPU. pic.twitter.com/I4K3aYYya4

— PLNU Sea Lions (@PLNUSeaLions) April 24, 2023

PLNU then added another in the fourth on a throwing error, before tacking on one more on Joey Nicolai's sacrifice bunt in the sixth.
 
Those five runs were more than enough for the Sea Lions pitching staff, with Matthew Schlesener, Otjen and Cole Hillier finishing off the two-hit shutout that Kozasky started.

Monday's doubleheader made up two of the games that were rained out between the two teams back in February.
 
Point Loma hosts Academy of Art this weekend for a four-game series to close out the regular season, beginning with a doubleheader on Friday starting at noon.