IRVINE, Calif. -- Point Loma’s season-opening winning streak is still going with 10 in a row after the Sea Lions swept a pair of games against Cal State Dominguez Hills to highlight a strong start to the season for the PacWest.
Out of the conference’s seven team sports, baseball has been the one in which the PacWest has had its strongest performance in non-conference play with two-thirds of the conference posting a winning record. Overall, the conference has a 56-35-1 record with the conference season set to start on Thursday.
Before conference play begins, Biola will play at Cal Poly Pomona on Tuesday. Biola won twice last week against Cal State LA in a return to form for the Eagles. Meanwhile, Azusa Pacific won three of four games against Cal State Monterey Bay to improve to 5-7.
Fresno Pacific swept its three-game series against Sonoma State to improve to 7-3 on the season after facing a tough non-conference schedule that also included Western Oregon and Chico State.
Baxter Halligan has been a big reason for Point Loma’s 10-0 start to the season as he has arguably been the best player in the nation so far, getting the job done at the plate and on the mound. With the bat in his hands, he has a conference-leading four home runs and 14 RBIs. He also leads the conference in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage at rates that would all smash current PacWest records if he maintains them. While pitching, he is the PacWest leader in wins, strikeouts and ERA with not even an unearned run allowed in 18 innings pitched. He has struck out 26 batters and only surrendered three walks this year.
PacWest weekly awards for the week of Feb. 14-20
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Charles Morgan, Academy of Art
OF, Jr., 6-1 -- Vista, Calif.
Morgan recorded six hits in the Urban Knights’ four-game series against Holy Names, which ended in a split. He hit three home runs and recorded a total of five RBIs as Academy of Art improved to 4-7 on the season. Morgan opened the week with a 3-for-3 performance, hitting a double and driving in two runs. In the following game, he went 1 for 4 with a solo home run and two runs scored. His best performance of the week was on Sunday in the series finale where he went 2 for 3 with a pair of solo home runs. He was also hit by a pitch and came around to score for a total of six runs on the week. Morgan is now batting .297 this season and was the PacWest leader for the week in total bases with 16 as the Urban Knights won the final two games of the series.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Baxter Halligan, Point Loma
LHP, Sr., 6-2 -- Pacific City, Ore.
Halligan made his third start of the season on Friday against Cal State Dominguez Hills and delivered his third shutout outing. He threw just five innings, which was enough to put Point Loma in position to keep its perfect record as Halligan improved to 3-0 on the season. He gave up four hits with no walks and only allowed one extra-base hit. He faced 18 batters and struck out nine of them to keep his 0.00 ERA, while improving his K-BB ratio to 26-3. It was Point Loma’s third shutout victory this season. Halligan gave up a two-out double into left-center field in the first inning, which was the only extra-base hit allowed all game. The next batter grounded out to end the inning. In the second inning, he struck out the side in order and then did the same in the third inning, getting five of those six batters to go down swinging. In the fifth inning, Halligan faced his only jam, allowing three-consecutive singles into left field. He got out of it by inducing a double play and then got his ninth strikeout to end the threat unscathed.