Baseball

Power on the Point! PLNU Bats Go Bonkers to Win NCAA Baseball Regional

Sea Lions score 28 runs on Friday to sweep their way into Super Regional

PLNU Athletics

A year ago, Point Loma Nazarene University's baseball program went 11-21 and nothing really went their way.

Oh, what a difference a year makes.

The Sea Lions blasted their way to an NCAA Division-II Baseball Tournament regional title by sweeping Northwest Nazarene 7-4 and 21-5 on Friday afternoon on the San Diego coast, running its season record to an absurd 46-7.

Leadoff hitter Otto Kemp set the tone twice, leading off both games with a home run. Baxter Halligan also went deep in the first game to back sophomore Dylan Miller, who turned in a quality start with seven strikeouts and three runs allowed in 6.0 innings of work to get the win.

After Kemp led off the second game with another homer everyone else decided they might as well start hitting bombs, too. Scott Anderson, the very next hitter, also hit a dinger. Five hitters later Jack Malone ripped a 3-run shot to give PLNU a 5-0 lead.

That was just an appetizer.

Hunter Otjen hammered a 2-run shot in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd inning Malone hit another solo homer and Otjen blasted a 3-run big fly to centerfield that made it 14-2 Sea Lions. In the 7th inning Kemp hit his 3rd of the day, and the 7th home run of the game for Point Loma.

PLNU sweeps its way through the regional and will host the Super-Regional next weekend, needing just two wins to reach the D-2 College World Series. They'll play either Cal State-Monterey Bay or Azusa Pacific in a best-of-3 series starting on Friday.

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