(SEASIDE, Calif.) Just as PLNU Baseball has done all season long, the Sea Lions proved that no matter what deficit they faced, they were never out of it.
With Point Loma's season on the line and trailing 9-4 against top-seeded Cal State Monterey Bay in the NCAA West Regional,
Jack Malone hit a two-out grand slam in the top of the seventh to make it a one-run game.
But the Sea Lions' comeback bid fell just a bit short, as the Otters won 11-8 on Thursday afternoon to end PLNU's season in the regional.
"I'm very proud of these guys," Head Coach
Justin James said. "There wasn't one time this whole year I thought they gave up. There wasn't one time where they weren't grinding. We preach that there's no clock in baseball and these guys took that teaching and you could see how it was today.
"There were a lot of things that didn't go our way, self-inflicted for the most part, but we continued to play our brand of baseball and grind out at-bats as best as we could. Unfortunately, we came up short playing against two quality ballclubs."
A tough 5-4 defeat to Cal Poly Pomona in the first game on Thursday created an elimination game scenario for Point Loma immediately afterward, but that loss didn't appear to affect PLNU early in game two.
The Sea Lions jumped out to an immediate 1-0 lead in the top of the first after
David Garcia's two-out RBI-single.
CSUMB then scored a single run in both the first and second innings to take the lead, only for
Jakob Christian to go yard yet again with a two-run blast in the top of the third to put PLNU back ahead.
His 28th homer of the year set a new single-season PacWest Conference record, while adding to his PLNU career home run record that he set earlier in the day.
"It means a lot," Christian said of breaking those two records. "The whole community at Point Loma has supported me throughout this whole year and during my whole career here. I love each and every one of those guys and I did it for all of them, not for myself."
The Otters retook their advantage in the bottom of the third with a two-out, two-RBI single.
Point Loma loaded the bases in the top of the fourth with one out, but the region's top seed induced an inning-ending double play to end the threat.
PLNU then tied the game in the top of the fifth after loading the bases again, this time with nobody out.
Hunter Otjen led off the inning with a double before Christian was intentionally walked.
Jake Entrekin then walked himself, before the Sea Lions scored one on a double play groundout.
In the bottom half, the Otters went ahead again on a sacrifice fly before loading the bases with two outs, but
Josh Combs got a groundout to get out of the inning.
CSUMB then broke the game open with four two-out runs in the bottom of the sixth, after PLNU nearly got out of the inning except for the blustery wind turning a routine pop up down the right field line that appeared to be going foul into a double that just barely dropped into fair territory.
Christian came within a foot of homering again in the top of the seventh, which would have scored two runs, but it hooked just outside of the left field foul pole.
Later in the inning,
Jack Malone would have no such misfortune, as he blasted a no-doubter grand slam to bring the Sea Lions to within one.
With two outs,
Jeffrey Barber and Garcia walked to load the bases for Malone, who smashed his second homer of the day to cut PLNU's deficit to one.
"It was huge," Christian said of Malone's grand slam. "I kind of had a feeling that something was going to happen. I got a little adrenaline rush when he hit that ball. We all went crazy and I thought that was the energy we needed. It was a good boost for us and unfortunately we just couldn't come out on top, but that's just the way baseball goes sometimes."
Within one run was as close as Point Loma would get, however, as the Broncos retired the final seven Sea Lions to step into the batter's box, including six via strikeout.
The loss ends what was yet another successful season for Point Loma (36-16 overall), who won its second-straight PacWest Conference championship and appeared in a second-consecutive NCAA West Regional.
The future also appears to be bright for the Sea Lions, who will return nearly everyone next season after only honoring three graduating players on Senior Day.
"Everyone had their turn and had a big role at some point this year," said Otjen, who had three hits in game two. "That was really cool that everyone was really involved. They got their time and everyone handled it really well. I thought a lot of people broke out this year and I think it's a really good sign for next year."
