(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.)
Hank Smith hit two home runs and
Matt Garrison threw five scoreless innings to lead No. 1 seed PLNU Baseball to a 9-2 victory over No. 4 seed Westmont in the opening game of the PacWest Championships.
Smith hit a towering grand slam in the fifth before launching a three-run homer in the seventh, with his seven RBIs setting a new program record for most RBIs in a single PacWest Tournament game.
Owen May opened the scoring with an RBI-double down the third base line in the fourth, before the Sea Lions scored four in both the fifth and seventh innings.
That was more than enough offense for the freshman Garrison, who earned his first career win in his inaugural collegiate start.
A pregame injury during warm-ups to the Sea Lions' scheduled starter forced Garrison into action on last-second notice, but the freshman delivered with his most impressive outing of his young PLNU career.
Garrison struck out the side in the first inning and struck out six in total across his five innings of work, during which he allowed only a single hit.
The lefty set career highs in innings pitched and strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 2.19 on the season having not allowed an earned run in his last seven outings since Feb. 7.
Both Smith and
Josiah Rodriguez had three-hit games, accounting for six of the team's 12 hits on the day.
Point Loma (42-10 overall) advances to play No. 3 seed Fresno Pacific on Thursday at 12:30 p.m.
The winner will advance to Friday's championship round, with the loser being forced to play an elimination game on Thursday at 4 p.m. against the winner between No. 2 seed Concordia and No. 4 seed Westmont.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
