PLNU catcher Mason Cook gets the force at home, but the Sea Lions fall to Tampa, 2-1.
PLNU catcher Mason Cook gets the force at home, but the Sea Lions fall to Tampa, 2-1.

Baseball

Defending Champions Hold Off Sea Lions, 2-1

Point Loma goes toe-to-toe with Tampa, falling late in a winner's bracket game. The Sea Lions will play on Tuesday at 3 pm to try and keep their tournament hopes alive.

CARY, N.C.—In the highlight game of the 2026 NCAA National Championships thus far, Point Loma went toe-to-toe with two-time defending national champion Tampa before falling 2-1 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex on Monday night.

The Sea Lions are still alive though, one of six teams remaining in the national tournament. They will rematch with Catawba on Tuesday to try and stay alive, with first pitch set for 3 pm Pacific Time.

Point Loma moves to 50-12, while Tampa will take a 48-8 record into a Tuesday day of rest. The Spartans now sit back and wait to see who comes out of tomorrow’s games and won’t play until Wednesday.

Tampa, who has won ten national championships, won their opener on Saturday, 13-0 over Bentley.

Today, excellent starting pitching and defense set the tone. The Spartans got on the board first in the second inning against PLNU starter Devin Norton, but that’s all that they would get against the right-hander as Norton worked out of jams and had clean defense behind him.

Meanwhile, Tampa starter BJ Bailey was also very good. But the Sea Lions had opportunities, leaving runners on first and third in the second inning, one on in scoring position in the fifth and they left the bases loaded in the seventh.

Norton left the game prior to the top of the eighth having given up seven hits, the one run just two walks and two strikeouts. Bailey left in the seventh, having given up just four hits, three walks and three K’s.

But the Sea Lions finally broke through in the bottom of the eighth. After a Tristan Moore lead-off single and a ground ball moved him to second, Hank Smith singled to put runners on the corners. Smith then stole second to put two runners in scoring position.

After a strikeout and an intentional walk loaded the bases, Jack Ryan drove a hard hit ball off the body of Tampa’s first baseman, sending Moore home to tie the game. But the potential go-ahead run was caught in a run down and was out at home to end the inning.

In the top of the ninth, an error opened the door for the Spartans, who were able to bring around the go-ahead run on Brayden Woodburn’s base hit to center. In the bottom of the ninth, Point Loma went down in order against Tampa side-winder Luke Fikar.

The Sea Lions had six hits in the game, all singles except for Mason Cook’s double. Ryan had a warning track blast in the seventh that was caught against the wall.

Point Loma, who defeated the #3 seed Catawba on Saturday 11-5, will play the Indians again on Tuesday. Catawba stayed alive today with a 15-8 win over Bentley.