Point Loma Nazarene beats Cal State Monterey Bay twice, returns to NCAA Division II national championships

Point Loma Nazarene began the baseball season with a 20-foot sinkhole in the outfield at Carroll B. Land Stadium.

About 1,000 cubic feet of dirt was used to fill it in.

There was some sort of symmetry this weekend as PLNU played its last weekend at home in the NCAA Division II Super Regionals against Cal State Monterey Bay.

The Sea Lions dug themselves a huge hole in the best-of-three series, losing Friday’s opening game against the Otters and then spotting Monterey Bay a four-run, first-inning lead on Saturday.

It made what happened next all the more fulfilling for the Sea Lions.

They rallied for a 13-inning, 10-8 victory Saturday to force a winner-take-all third game. There, they shoveled dirt on Monterey Bay, winning 7-1 to take the West Regional title and advance to the NCAA Division II national championships for the second time in three years.

“Today was electric,” PLNU coach Justin James said. “We were sold out here at The Point. It’s the best place on the planet. The energy, you could feel it.

“Two crazy baseball games, especially Game 1. There was probably 27 chances to lose or win that game, on both sides. ... It was going to take everything today, and it all lined up.”

A six-run fourth inning that included home runs by Eric Smelko, Esai Santos and Jake Entrekin keyed the decisive victory over the Otters (39-21).

That was plenty of offense for PLNU (45-11-1), with starting pitcher Ray Cebulski (10-1) going the distance in the seven-inning game.

Cebulski limited the Otters to a single run in the second inning, allowing four hits with three strikeouts and no walks.

In Saturday’s first game, PLNU trailed 4-0 in the first inning, 6-2 in the fourth and 7-5 in the sixth before Hunter Otjen saved the season with a two-run homer in the ninth that knotted the score 7-7.

“The pitcher was making some good pitches,” Otjen said. “I was just trying to wait for mine, and I got it. ... I was not going to get cheated. It could have been my last collegiate at-bat.”

The Sea Lions still had to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth.

And they had to throw out the would-be winning run to end the 11th.

Both teams scored once in the 12th before PLNU pushed across two runs in the 13th to make the difference.

Otjen (2-1) pitched the last two innings to get the victory and force the deciding game.

“The whole grind to get to that last game just made it so much more special for us,” PLNU shortstop Scott Anderson said. “There was a lot of people in the dugout who could have been potentially playing their last game ever. For us to come from behind and win two crazy games makes it really rewarding.”