POINT LOMA WINS TOP HALF OF NATIONALS BRACKET - PLNU Athletics (2024)

• Box Score

Game Recap: Baseball | 6/10/2022 12:48:00 PM

CARY, N.C. – In its first elimination game of the NCAA Division II Baseball National Championships, Point Loma turned to its top pitchers in order to keep the quest for a national title alive as Baxter Halligan, Zachary Veen and Cole Hillier combined for a shutout, beating Rollins 2-0 on Friday to win the top half of the bracket.

The Sea Lions will get right back onto the field tonight with what they are aiming to be the first of two games to determine the national champion against North Greenville. The tournament's top seed enters the final with no losses, meaning Point Loma will need two more wins to earn the trophy, while North Greenville is just one win away. The first game will be played at 4 p.m. (Pacific) under the lights of Coleman field.

Point Loma is now 51-9 on the season and 8-2 in the postseason, going into tonight's game. Meanwhile, Rollins finishes the season with a 43-17 record after being eliminated by the Sea Lions. Azusa Pacific and Rollins are the only two teams to have beaten Point Loma and both times the Sea Lions got revenge immediately, ending their seasons.

Halligan had a small lead to work with for most of the game, but he didn't have a lot of room for error with just one run scored in the first six innings. PacWest Freshman of the Year Jakob Christian was hit by a pitch and he went from first to third on a single by Easton Waterman into rightfield. Jack Malone then executed a squeeze bunt to drive home Christian for a 1-0 lead.

Point Loma's offense benefited from the momentum created late in Thursday's loss, and got runners aboard early in the game. However, Rollins turned three groundball double plays in the first three innings to hold the Sea Lions to just one run.

In the seventh inning, Point Loma added its second run, starting with a single into centerfield by Izayah Alvarez. Then Otto Kemp recorded his fourth hit of the game with a shot into leftfield to put two runners on. A double steal put Alvarez and Kemp into scoring position with one out. That's when Scott Anderson hit a sacrifice fly into rightfield that was more than deep enough to plate Alvarez.

That proved to be all that Halligan needed. Through his first six innings of work, the PacWest Pitcher of the Year threw a four-hit shutout with five strikeouts and no walks. However, that streak of no walks came to an end in the seventh inning with back-to-back walks, putting the tying run on base. Halligan had only thrown 84 pitches, but he was going through the Tars' lineup for the third time, so James turned the ball over to the bullpen to get out of the jam.

Veen delivered just what the Sea Lions needed in the seventh inning after the Tars got their first runner in scoring position all game. Veen induced two shallow pop outs on just three pitches. He then got a big swing-and-miss strikeout to get out of the inning with no damage, preserving the 2-0 lead.

Hillier then took the mound to go for a six-out save, entering the game with a PacWest record 16 saves. For the second inning in a row, Rollins put two runners on base with a walk and then a single to try to start a two-out rally. However, Hillier put an end to the threat, getting a flyout to Hunter Otjen in rightfield to end another threat.

Point Loma also threatened in its half of the ninth inning, but an intentional walk set up another inning ending double play to keep the lead only at two. In the bottom of the ninth, Nick Santucci got a leadoff single into leftfield, and then a rare error by the Point Loma infield brought the game-winning run to the plate. Hillier got the first batter to softly ground out to second base, which allowed the two runners to move into scoring position with the game-tying run at second base.

Hillier's slider worked well for him in the outing and he got his 57th strikeout of the season for the second out of the inning, keeping the runners stranded at second and third. The Sea Lions' closer got ahead of the next batter 1-2, and the next pitch was lined sharply toward Kemp, who caught the ball for the final out of the game.

Halligan earned his 14^th win of the season and pitched in his sixth combined shutout. Hillier now has 17 saves on the season and Veen lowered his team-leading ERA to a near-impeccable 1.29 in 49 innings of work.

Kemp finished the game 4 for 4 with an intentional walk, and Christian went 2 for 3 with a hit-by-pitch. In total, the Sea Lions collected nine hits. Waterman went 1 for 1 with a single, sacrifice bunt and two walks.