(FRESNO, Calif.) PLNU Baseball picked a good time to have its biggest inning of the season.
In the first-ever PacWest Tournament game, top-seeded Point Loma scored 11 runs in the bottom of the third inning to spark the Sea Lions to a 14-3 victory over fourth-seeded Holy Names on Wednesday.
After a scoreless first two innings, HNU scored three in the top of the third to take an early lead, only for PLNU to respond immediately in the bottom half with its most runs in a single inning since April 15, 2022 at Biola.
"We had a lot of comeback victories last year and there's a lot of the guys still in the lineup this year that went through that," said
Hunter Otjen, who went 5-for-5 with four RBIs. "Especially that early in the game, no one was really panicking. We knew that we were going to get ours at some point."
PLNU nearly batted around twice in the third inning, tallying 10 hits and having 17 batters step up to the plate. At one point, 12-straight Sea Lions reached base.
Otjen started the inning with a base hit up the middle and advanced into scoring position on
Seth Ryberg's single.
Owen May,
Scott Anderson and
Jakob Christian then came up with consecutive run-scoring hits to tie the game.
Anderson's single was the 200th hit of his PLNU career, becoming just the 10th player in program history to accomplish the feat.
After
Jake Entrekin was hit by a pitch,
David Garcia drew a bases-loaded walk to score the go-ahead run, but the Sea Lions were far from done.
Jack Malone squeezed a two RBI-double just inside the first base line, before Otjen knocked in a pair with his second hit of the inning.
Otjen then advanced to third on a two-base error, allowing
Tommy Burleson to plate him with a single through the right side.
Ryberg singled again and May walked, loading the bases for Anderson to score two more with his second run-scoring single of the inning.
That was more than enough run support for PLNU starter
Dylan Miller, who didn't allow another run in his six total innings of work.
"We pride ourselves in being able to move on and try to separate pitches," Head Coach
Justin James said of his ace. "Dylan's been through the fire several different times. At the end of the game, that was one of the points is that they can get a few hits and get a rally going, but as long as we are tough on the mound, we can overcome some things and get the offense going."
Miller added: "My ultimate goal was just to pound the zone. A couple of hits fell here and there but I was able to get out of it and our hitters helped me out in that bottom of the third."
Otjen then put Point Loma up by double digits with a two-run blast to left in the bottom of the sixth to become the first Sea Lion this season to have five hits in a single game.
"He's a really good player and works really hard," James said. "He's one of the best teammates we have on and off the field. He deserves this moment because of his work ethic."
Garcia then rounded out the scoring with a solo shot to left in the eighth inning.
Jonathan Kozasky and
Max Montplaisir combined to pitch the final three innings in shutout fashion, putting the Sea Lions one win away from the championship round.
Point Loma (35-12 overall) will now play on Thursday at 3 p.m. against second-seeded Azusa Pacific, who won Wednesday's second game against third-seeded Fresno Pacific.
If PLNU wins that matchup, the Sea Lions will advance to Friday's first championship game at noon. If Point Loma loses on Thursday, it will have to turn around and play an elimination game at 7 p.m. against the winner of Thursday morning's contest between Holy Names and Fresno Pacific.
