(CARY, N.C.) No. 4 PLNU Baseball jumped out to an early lead against No. 8 Angelo State, before the defending national champions surged back to defeat Point Loma 13-6 at the NCAA Division II World Series on Monday night.
The Sea Lions remain alive in the double-elimination tournament and will play IUP on Wednesday with the postseason fates of both teams in the balance.
PLNU opened the scoring in the first inning on
Bryson Hashimoto's RBI-groundout before ASU tied it up in the bottom half.
Jack Malone then doubled to start the second and scored on
Joey Nicolai's two-run blast that restored PLNU's advantage.
The Rams got another run back in the bottom of the second, before the Sea Lions took their largest lead of the game at 5-2 in the fourth.
Jake Entrekin doubled down the left field line to spark a two-out rally, which featured an RBI-single from Hashimoto followed by a run-scoring double from
Hunter Otjen.
After ASU answered right back with two runs of its own, PLNU preserved its lead after diving defensive plays from Nicolai and Hashimoto in consecutive innings.
However, Point Loma was ultimately made to pay for missed early opportunities, leaving 12 runners on base overall and stranding the bases loaded in both the second and third.
Angelo State took its first lead of the game with a three-run sixth to go up by two, only for the Sea Lions to immediately cut that in half in the top of the seventh on
Tommy Molina's RBI-single.
But ASU then scored six unanswered runs, three in both the seventh and eighth, to seal its victory and a spot in the national semifinals.
Point Loma (46-12-1 overall) now drops to the loser's bracket to take on IUP (39-17) in a rematch of Saturday's World Series opener.
The two teams will play an elimination game on Wednesday, with first pitch scheduled for 10:30 a.m. PDT / 1:30 p.m. EDT.
The winner will then advance to play Angelo State (43-19) on Thursday at 8 a.m. PDT / 11 a.m. EDT.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
