Point Loma went on the road to take 3 of 4 from the Sunbirds for Team of the Week honors. Chaminade wins its first two baseball awards behind Patterson's pitching and Ruch's hitting.

2024 Results/Schedule
2024 Standings
2024 Statistics
                    
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Chaminade's Ryan Ruch, OF-P, L/L, 5-10, Fr., San Diego, Calif.                                                            
Chaminade's Ryan Ruch is the first-ever Player of the Week award winner for the first-year program. A first-year player as well, the freshman went 7-for-14 with six RBI and two home runs as the Silverswords took three of four games from red hot Hawai`i Pacific. The San Diego native hit for the series cycle with a double and a triple to go with his pair of home runs and now is on a five-game hitting streak. In the 12-0 'Swords win, Ruch went 3-for-4 with a triple and home run to give him four RBI. After not getting his first start until five games into the season, the left-handed hitting outfielder/pitcher is now batting .469 with 17 RBI in nine games.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Chaminade's Max Patterson, RHP, 6-0, Jr., Honolulu, Hawai`i                                                            
Max Patterson of Chaminade was light's out during a seven-inning gem against Hawai`i Pacific. The junior right-hander was just two hits away from being perfect in the Silversword's 12-0 win, having not allowed a walk while also fanning seven. The Olympic JC (Wash.) transfer gave up both of his hits in the first inning and then went on to retire 17 batters in a row. He did not give up an extra base hit and finished the game in the seventh inning with a pair of strikeouts. He threw just 84 pitches in the contest and evened his record at 1-1. Patterson was also just honored as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association West Region Pitcher of the Week. 

SEA LIONS SLIP BY SUNBIRDS THREE TIMES: The PacWest Team of the Week is the POINT LOMA SEA LIONS. It was marked on the calendar as one of the big early season series in the PacWest, with the preseason poll #2 team (Point Loma) visiting the #3 team (Fresno Pacific). The Sunbirds struck first in a big way with a 13-3 win on Friday afternoon, invoking the 10-run rule after eight innings. But Point Loma bounced back with an 8-5 nightcap win, followed by a Saturday doubleheader sweep with 1-0 and 16-3 victories. Cole Colleran pitched a gem in the 1-0 contest, going six innings and allowing only four hits, no walks and he struck out three. Jake Entrekin drove in the only run of the game with a solo shot in the top of ninth, and last week's Player of the Week would go 6-for-13 in the series with six RBI. PLNU head coach Justin James earned his 150th career win on Saturday as the Sea Lions began their quest for a third consecutive regular season PacWest title with a 3-1 record. 

POINT LOMA IS UNANAMOUS NO. 1: Point Loma received all 11 first place votes in this week's NCBWA West Region Baseball poll to easily retain the top spot. Westmont checks in at No. 7 and Hawai`i Pacific is No. 9. Here is the list, with records through the weekend. (1) Point Loma 11-3, (2) Northwest Nazarene 10-2-1, (3) CS Monterey Bay 7-5, (4) CS San Bernardino 8-6, (5) Chico State 7-2, (6) San Francisco State 9-5, (7) Westmont 8-5-2, (8) Cal Poly Pomona 6-6, (9) Hawai`i Pacific 9-4, (10) CS East Bay 7-3. RV--Biola, CS Dominguez Hills, Concordia, Fresno Pacific, CS San Marcos, Hawai`i Hilo. 
 
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Biola went 2-1-1 in a split location series with Westmont last week. The Eagles won a pair of games in La MIrada by 12-2 and 4-2 scores, and then in Santa Barbara Westmont won the first game 8-7 and tied the second contest 7-7 (darkness). Westmont won their game in the tenth inning when Bryce McFeeley doubled home the winning run. Biola got some solid pitching on day one, especially from Bobby Brown who picked up the win in the 12-2 contest, pitching six innings and allowing only one run and five hits. He struck out five...Chaminade's historic series win over Hawai`i Pacific including lots of offense from Casey Kudell. The junior outfielder went 10-for-16 with seven RBI and a home run...Concordia took three of four games from Hawai`i Hilo on the Big Island. The Vulcans won the first game on Sunday (6-3) behind Bryce Tweedt's 4-RBI game, but the Golden Eagles evened the series (5-0) behind a sterling pitching performance from Jake Covey. Covey pitched seven shutout innings, gave up three hits and struck out six. On Monday, the Golden Eagles won the first game 10-5 behind Michael Dixon's 3-for-5 day (3 runs, 2 RBI). The nightcap featured two of the league's top pitchers in CUI's Brett Finnel and UHH's Aaron Davies, and neither gave up an earned run through the front half of the game. But CUI struck for four runs in the top of the seventh to pull away for the 6-3 victory and series win...Some early season team statistics that jump off the page include Point Loma's batting average of .308, Biola's 23 home runs in 15 games, Concordia's 3.26 ERA (PLNU is at 3.29) and Hawai`i Hilo's 35 stolen bases in 17 games. 

THIS WEEK IN THE PACWEST: A few non-conference games dot the slate on the front half of the week before four PacWest 4-game series span the weekend. First, on Tuesday, Colorado Mesa wraps up their series at Azusa Pacific, Biola goes to Hope International and Hawai`i Hilo visits the University of Hawai`i on Wednesday. Conference series begin on Friday and run through Saturday--Azusa Pacific at Hawai`i Pacific, Westmont at Point Loma, Biola at Hawai`i Hilo and Fresno Pacific at Chaminade.