Sea Lions flex their muscles, bashing five homers in victory over Flames
OF THE TRIBUNE
Nestled atop the rocky cliffs of the San Diego shoreline, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Point Loma Nazarene has perhaps the most picturesque ballpark in the country.
With the wind blowing in off the water, though, the facility is not very conducive to home runs.
But that doesn’t mean the Sea Lions can’t hit balls out of the park. They certainly made that apparent Wednesday night.
Point Loma belted five round-trippers while registering an 8-6 triumph over Lee in Game 17 of the NAIA World Series.
The Sea Lions (45-11) now need just one more victory to nab their first national championship. They’ll get their first crack at the crown tonight against Lubbock Christian.
“Yeah, it’s amazing,” PLNU senior Kurt Steinhauer said. “I’ve never been on a team like it. It just seems like we’re hot and things are going our way.”
The Sea Lions, known more for their lockdown pitching and stingy defense, hit a respectable 62 home runs prior to the Series. But that paled in comparison to the totals some of the other clubs in the tournament, including tonight’s foe, produced this year.
Yet ever since the Sea Lions arrived in Lewiston, they have shown they are a capable bunch. Including Wednesday’s power surge, they have 11 homers in four Series games, which leads the 10-team field.
“At home we can’t hit the ball in the air to win baseball games because the wind blows too hard,” Sea Lions junior Ian MacMaster said. “But if teams think they are going to come after us and beat us with fastballs, I invite them to do that, because we are a fastball-hitting team. We’re going to get them and we’re going to bang them.”
Steinhauer furnished the first bomb, a solo shot to left-center with two down in the top of the first. It was his third home run of the Series and 19th of the season, tops on the squad.
After the Flames knotted the score with a home run of their own, the Sea Lions responded in the second. Tyler Kuehl drilled a two-run blast, his second of the tournament, to left to give the Sea Lions a lead they would never relinquish.
“Every game somebody comes up big, that’s just how our team works,” junior catcher Tim Winslow said. “We got a lot of clutch players.”
The most surprising burst probably came from Winslow, who had recorded just one dinger all season. But the Sea Lions’ No. 9 hitter smashed leadoff homers in the fifth and ninth innings.
“These guys have been hitting it well all year, and they’ve just kind of caught fire here at the end — just when we needed them to,” Steinhauer said. “… Definitely the back of our lineup especially has been picking us up huge.”
MacMaster also provided unexpected contributions, making the most of his only plate appearance after entering the game in the bottom of the seventh for defensive purposes. The lanky lefty started the eighth by bashing a bolt off the top of the scoreboard in right field.
He’s had just three at-bats in the Series, but has sailed two balls out of the park and pushed his season total to three.
“We get a pitch to hit and we put our swings on it,” MacMaster said. “And the ball was flying tonight.”
It probably could have been that way all season. But finishing with a few less home runs seems like a small tradeoff for an ocean view.
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Breach may be contacted at mbreach@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2277.
