SEA LIONS ARE A WIN AWAY FROM DIVISION II TITLE GAME
Point Loma Nazarene is the No. 2 seed in the Division II championship series.
That means the NCAA selection committee expected PLNU to be playing Saturday for the national title at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.
The Sea Lions are one win away from doing just that after Monday evening’s 11-3 victory over Southern Arkansas.
PLNU will rest up a couple days now while awaiting the winner of Wednesday’s elimination game between
Southern Arkansas (47-12) and Rollins (41-16).
The Sea Lions (50-8) return to the field Thursday at 10:30 a.m. PT for the bracket finale. Win, and they play for the championship. Lose, and they get another shot Friday to get there in the doubleelimination tournament.
“I’m really proud of my guys,” said PLNU head coach Justin James, who was pitching coach at UC San Diego in 2017 when the Tritons played for the Division II national championship. “I really can’t describe just how tough they are. It’s great.
“That team was starting to hit the ball around the park a little bit, but our pitchers, they don’t freak out . ... You can tell because there was only one walk. Usually when people start to get scared, those walks start to pile up a little bit. This pitching staff has done that well (avoid walks) all year long.”
PLNU took command early, plating four runs in the second inning — highlighted by shortstop Scott Anderson’s two-run double — for a 4-0 lead.
“That’s just what our offense has been doing all year,” said PLNU catcher Easton Waterman, who had a game-high four hits. “We feed off each other’s energy really well. All it takes is one guy to get it going. Once that happens, it’s scary.”
Southern Arkansas rallied for two runs in the third inning against PLNU starting pitcher Jack Gonzales, but that’s as close as the Muleriders would get to getting even.
First baseman Jakob Christian hit PLNU’s first homer of the championship series leading off the fifth inning, putting a pitch over the left-field wall for a 5-2 lead.
Gonzales (10-1) wasn’t at his best — though it would have been difficult to match his 15-strikeout, seven-inning no-hitter against Concordia two months ago — but the left-hander from El Camino High was plenty good against the Muleriders.
He allowed four singles in Southern Arkansas’ two-run second inning. The Muleriders were otherwise hitless against Gonzales until the sixth inning.
Southern Arkansas’ Brandon Nicoll hit a leadoff double in the sixth, but Gonzalez stranded him at third base after a couple flyouts and a strikeout that ended the inning.
PLNU added a run in the seventh for a 6-2 lead when Waterman scored after teammate Jack Malone bunted for a base hit down the third-base line and the Muleriders threw the ball down the right-field line.
PLNU went to the bullpen in the seventh, with Gonzales heading to the dugout having allowed five hits while striking out five and walking one.
“You want to talk about an old-fashioned butt-kicking, that’s what that was,” Southern Arkansas head coach Justin Pettigrew said.