SAN DIEGO – Point Loma won Game 1 of the NCAA West Regional Championship Series on Friday, 8-7, against Azusa Pacific with Baxter Halligan helping the Sea Lions lead early with his pitching before driving in the game-winning run with his bat to move just one win away from the NCAA National Championships.
 
The winner of this best-of-3 series will become the first PacWest team since Grand Canyon in 2013 to win the NCAA West Region, and the top-2 teams in the West battled out the first game of the series with Point Loma getting ahead 1-0. Azusa Pacific will now have to win both games on Saturday to advance, while the Sea Lions, who are now on a nine-game winning streak, need just one more win.
 
Halligan threw seven innings with just one hit allowed and struck out 10 batters as the Sea Lions built a 7-1 lead with the help of a five-run fifth inning. Halligan’s 10 strikeouts gives him a total of 111 punchouts this season, breaking the record set earlier this year by Holy Names’ Noah Barros.
 
Azusa Pacific got just its second baserunner of the day on an eighth-inning hit by pitch and the runner reached third base on two groundouts. With two outs, George Chrstison beat out a grounder down the third-base line to earn just the second hit of the game and keep the inning alive.
 
Azusa Pacific then hit three home runs in the top of the eighth inning with Tido Robles’ blast tying the game at 7-7. It was a six-run inning for the Cougars that Zachary Veen eventually ended with a flyout to keep the game tied.
 
Point Loma threatened to score runs in virtually every inning and the bottom of the eighth was no different with a walk and single putting runners at the corners for the PacWest Player of the Year. Halligan sliced a shallow pop fly down the third-base line that dropped in for a double, allowing Otto Kemp to score the game-winning run. It was his 71st run scored this year, adding to his PacWest record.
 
Cole Hillier entered the game in the ninth inning in search of his 15^th save this season. A single, hit by pitch and intentional walk loaded after a sacrifice bunt loaded the bases with one out. He then induced a shallow flyout that didn’t allow the runner to tag up, keeping the bases loaded with two outs as reigning West Region Player of the Year Aaron Roose came up to bat. The runners were in motion with a full count, bases loaded and two outs as Hillier got a second flyout in a row to get out of the jam and win a dramatic first game of the series.
 
Azusa Pacific opened the game with Will Stroud blasting a solo home run into left field against the wind, but that was the only hit the Cougars got off Halligan all game. Scott Anderson’s sacrifice fly then tied the game at 1-1 in the third inning.
 
In the fifth, Kemp started the five-run inning with a single through the left side as the Cougars’ ace AJ Woodall tried to get through Point Loma’s lineup for a third time. Halligan then added a single and Kemp raced to third, beating the throw which allowed Halligan to advance to second base. Hunter Otjen, Jakob Christian and Easton Waterman then all hit singles, each driving in one run. Jason DuMont got the only extra-base hit of the inning with a double into right centerfield to make the score 6-1. Christian then added a solo shot in the seventh inning to extend the lead.
 
While the Sea Lions used primarily a string of singles to build its lead, the Cougars looked to the longball to quickly erase it. Jeffrey Castillo, a late season replacement at second base, hit a 3-run home run and then Roose made it back-to-back shots before Robles hit his game-tying shot.
 
Game 2 of the series will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday with Game 3 if necessary beginning shortly afterwards. The winner of the series will advance to the national championships in Cary, N.C. on June 4-11.