SEA LIONS’ OPPONENTS FACE DOUBLE TROUBLE
A run producer and the team’s ace, Halligan leads PLNU to NCAA tourney
Point Loma Nazarene’s Baxter Halligan had a hot start to the season.
And he never cooled off. The result is one of the more remarkable individual seasons amid the most remarkable season in PLNU’s 73-year history.
“It was one of those things where the numbers kept piling up,” said PLNU head coach Justin James, who couldn’t recall a better two-way season in his two decades around college baseball.
Halligan earned 2022 PacWest Pitcher and Player of the Year after being among PLNU’s top run producers — batting .345 with nine home runs and 44 RBIs — as well as its top starting pitcher — going 12-2 with a 4.09 ERA and 111 strikeouts with 18 walks over 88 innings.
The 6-foot-2 senior left-hander from Pacific City, Ore., gets the ball this afternoon for the Sea Lions (48-8) against Illinois Springfield in the teams’ opening game of the NCAA Division II championship series in Cary, N.C. PLNU is the No. 2 seed in the doubleelimination tournament.
Halligan can tie the school’s single-season record for wins with a victory.
When Halligan got off to a strong start the first month of the season, James said the Sea Lions standout was “becoming electric on both sides of the ball.”
Halligan opened the season with 23 scoreless innings on the mound before allowing two runs against Azusa Pacific in his fourth start of the year.
“He’s a strike thrower who is pretty relentless,” James said. “He has two types of breaking balls that he can land in any count. He’s tough. It’s understated. That’s the key to pitching.”
At the plate, he had four home runs in the season’s first seven games. That, after homering just once in 32 games last season.
“It’s just taking the extra time in the batting cage and really having
a dedicated mission every single day of what I’m trying to work on,” said Halligan, who plays outfield when he isn’t pitching.
“The other part of it is I’ve done a lot of work on the mechanics of my swing and simplifying both my mental approach and my physical swing.
“So I can just go up there and be an athlete, rather than trying to think about everything that I’m doing.”
Halligan gave little indication last year that such a monster season was in store this year.
In 2021, he was a modest 3-1 on the mound, though he showed command with 22 strikeouts and two walks in 22 innings.
He batted a solid .311, but produced only the one homer and 18 RBIs.
“I think it’s pretty simple,” James said. “He took the weight room about as seriously as somebody can.
“Then, he’s such a high character guy, he listens and responds to coaching and suggestions really well. So he put himself in a situation of constant improvement. It’s unbelievable.”
Halligan doesn’t blow hitters away — touching 90 mph with his fastball — but locates well and doesn’t get himself in trouble by walking batters.
“Where I finally figured out the pitching side was with the mechanics mindset,” Halligan said, “being able to move correctly and put myself in a position where I can be as repeatable as possible on the mound when it comes to throwing quality strikes.”
Halligan serves as DH when he
pitches, often helping his own cause, as he did in last week’s 8-7 Super Regionals win over Azusa Pacific.
He left with a 7-1 lead in that game, a solo home run in the first inning representing the Cougars’ only hit and baserunner over seven innings.
Then Azusa rallied for six runs to tie the game in the top of the eighth inning before Halligan doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the inning.
Hard work in the offseason explains some of the success. Another piece, Halligan said, was making a conscious effort to relax and enjoy his senior season.
“It’s one of those things where it could be my last season,” Halligan said. “I’m so invested in this year and this team, that I just want us to keep playing and be the last team playing.”
The way things have gone for Halligan — and the Sea Lions — it wouldn’t be a stretch to see them realize that goal.