Late rallies keep Point Loma Nazarene alive in PacWest Championships

Point Loma Nazarene dominated the participants in the 2024 PacWest Championships, winning 11 of 12 games this season against the other three teams.

But there was PLNU on Thursday afternoon against Hawaii Pacific, six outs away from being the first team eliminated from the tournament.

A late rally reversed PLNU’s fortunes. And a pair of late rallies later against Azusa Pacific kept alive the Sea Lions’ hopes for winning the conference tournament crown.

The Sea Lions (38-10-1) need to beat Concordia (25-20) twice on Friday to claim the PacWest Championship. The winner receives an automatic berth to the 56-team NCAA Division II Regionals.

It didn’t appear PLNU would be in this position the way things were unfolding against Hawaii Pacific.

But the top-seeded Sea Lions scored a pair of eighth-inning runs on Will Pope’s double and Joey Nicolai’s single and that was the difference in PLNU’s 6-4 victory in the double-elimination event hosted at Azusa.

The Sea Lions doubled down on the drama in a 10-inning, 10-7 win over Azusa Pacific that concluded about an hour before midnight.

PLNU appeared to have the game in hand after scoring two runs in the ninth inning on a one-out double by Nicolai to take a 7-6 lead.

They were one out away from winning in regulation when Azusa Pacific’s Spencer Rasmussen tied the game with a solo homer off PLNU closer James Sashin.

The Sea Lions were more emphatic in the 10th, scoring three times, the first two runs coming home on Jack Malone’s one-out single down the right-field line.

Sashin returned in the bottom of the 10th and struck out the side to end the game.

PLNU stranded 12 base runners through the first eight innings against Azusa Pacific. Six of those stranded came when the Sea Lions left the bases loaded in both the sixth and seventh innings.

PLNU seemed headed for elimination before Nicolai’s big hit.

Sashin closed out both games. Against Hawaii Pacific, Sashin earned his 16th save, one away from the single-season school record set in 2022 by Cole Hillier.

The Sea Lions opened the scoring against Hawaii Pacific (30-22) on Esai Santos’ solo home run in the first inning. Santos had four of the team’s eight hits in the game.

PLNU trailed 4-1 in the fourth inning, but Sea Lions starter Austyn Coleman and the bullpen shut out Hawaii Pacific thereafter while the offense rallied.

PLNU added two runs in the bottom of the fourth and made it 4-4 in the seventh on Santos’ RBI double.