SAN DIEGO – The Dixie State baseball team opened a four-game Pacific West Conference series against host Point Loma Friday by splitting a doubleheader. The offense backed up a quality start from Chance Abrath (Salt Lake City, UT/West) to win 5-1 before two late Sea Lion comebacks earned PLNU a 6-5 walkoff victory.

Dixie State moved its season record to 30-14 on the season and closed within one game of claiming a share of the PacWest title with a 21-5 mark in league play. PLNU's split broke a stretch of six losses in their last eight games to post a 21-22, 12-14 mark.

In the series opener, the Red Storm banged out 15 hits and opened up a 4-0 lead off PLNU freshman hurler Kellen Sheppard. Tyler Blair (Henderson, NV/Green Valley) capped off a two-out rally in the first inning with an RBI single. Later in the fourth inning, Drew McLaughlin (Scottsdale, AZ/Desert Mountain) came through with a two-out single manufacturing the Storm's 2-0 lead. 

The Red Storm fifth inning began with four consecutive hits, including an RBI single from Kris Kaplan (Las Vegas, NV/Cimarron Memorial). A second run crossed on a double play ball.

Abrath kept the PLNU bat quiet over his 6.2 innings. He allowed a late run on three hits and left the game after fanning three batters. Matt Hill (Cypress, CA/Pacifica) closed out the final 2.1 innings, retiring all seven batters he faced to preserve Abrath's sixth win of the season.

Game two saw Dixie State break open a scoreless pitcher's duel between John Conquy (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) and PLNU's Kevin Lillicrop with three solo home runs. Dalton Gust (Riverton, UT/Cottonwood) led off the sixth with his second homer of the year. IN the next inning, Blair and Kaplan went back-to-back with solo shots.

The Storm increased the lead to 4-0 in the eighth inning after Gust led off with a double and scored on a safety squeeze bunt from Yuto Kata (Chiba, Japan/Juan Diego (Utah)).

Conquy struck out six and was in line for his eighth win after scattering two runs over eight frames. Evan Parker (Ogden, UT/Bonneville) was unable to hold onto a 4-2 advantage, offering a two-run double on a two-out, full count pitch.

The stalemate held until the 11^th inning. Dixie State retook the lead with a pinch-hit home run by Austin Bartleson (Kennewick, WA/Southridge), his second on the season. But in the home half, PLNU tied the game with an RBI double off Taylor Stone (Sierra Vista, AZ/Buena (AZ)) and a walk-off single.

Both teams produced 13 hits in the second game. Gust led the way offensively for DSU with three hits.