POINT LOMA NAZARENE EYES PACWEST TITLE

Early-season stumbles had Point Loma Nazarene looking up at first place in the PacWest since the start of conference play.

Climbing back atop the standings has been a weekby-week grind that finally paid off Monday when the Sea Lions moved into first.

PLNU (30-12, 18-8 PacWest) accomplished it with a doubleheader sweep of Fresno Pacific, winning 10-0 and 5-0 in a pair of makeup games washed away by rain earlier in the season.

PLNU now controls its destiny in the Sea Lions’ bid for a second straight PacWest regular-season championship. If it wins this weekend’s series against last-place Academy of Art (14-28, 7-21), then the Sea Lions take the title.

Earning the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth will take more doing this season, however. The PacWest has added a postseason conference tournament for the first time. The four-team, doubleelimination tourney will be played May 10-12 in Fresno, with the champion earning the automatic NCAA berth.

PLNU continues to lead the PacWest in offense (batting .311 with 71 homers while averaging 7.3 runs a game) and pitching (a 4.15 ERA while allowing 4.3 runs a game).

Sea Lions sophomore first baseman Jakob Christian is close to leading the PacWest in all three Triple Crown categories with 24 homers (first), 55 RBIs (first) and a .388 batting average (fourth). Fresno Pacific’s Andrew Valdez leads the conference in batting with a .413 average.

This week: Today-Saturday vs. Academy of Art, Noon (DH)/Noon (DH).

San Diego State

The Aztecs (16-21, 10-6 MW) return home against UNLV (16-23, 7-11), focusing on keeping pace in conference play before a first-place showdown with conferenceleading San Jose State (2017, 13-6).

SDSU won two of three meetings against the Rebels when the teams met in Las Vegas earlier this season. The series included a 28-8 SDSU win that represented the most runs and hits (25) for the Aztecs since a 31-0 win (on 29 hits) against Air Force in 2007.

SDSU junior left-hander TJ Fondtain (4-2, 2.92 ERA, 69 SO/16 BB in 612⁄3 IP) is coming off the eighth no-hitter in school history, which earned him conference and national honors. Fondtain’s first victory of the season came in the conference opener against UNLV on March 3.

This week: Today-Sunday vs. UNLV, 6 p.m./6 p.m./1 p.m.

University of San Diego

The Toreros (18-20-1, 11-7 WCC) can take direct aim at first place in the West Coast Conference when they travel to conference-leading Loyola Marymount (21-18, 14-4). USD is coming off a threegame sweep of USF that moved the Toreros into a second-place tie with Portland (22-17, 11-7).

USD junior Kevin Sim (Torrey Pines) leads the Toreros in average (.298), home runs (13) and 40 RBIs, tying for second in the WCC in the latter two categories.

USD has received run production throughout the lineup. Six players have at least 20 RBIs, led by Sim, Austin Smith (33), Angelo Peraza (27) and Jack Costello (25).

This week: Today-Sunday at Loyola Marymount, 6 p.m./6 p.m./1 p.m.

UC San Diego

The Tritons (22-16, 11-7 Big West) are looking to rebound after being swept for the first time this season. They faced the Big West’s best pitching staff last week against UC Santa Barbara. This week at Cal Poly (14-24, 8-10) it is pitching that ranks next to last in the conference with a 5.97 ERA. By comparison, UCSD’s staff has a 4.57 ERA.

UCSD’s Matt Halbach (.331) and Patrick Hackworh (.330) rank among the Big West’s top-15 batters. Teammate Brandon Larson (33 RBIs) and Halbach (31) are among the conference’s top-10 run producers.

This week: Today-Sunday at Cal Poly, 6 p.m./4 p.m./1 p.m.

Cal State San Marcos

The Cougars (16-21, 1017) have climbed out of last place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, moving up to a tie for eighth with Chico State. The challenge will be building on last week’s momentum against fourth-place Cal State East Bay (23-19, 17-15) bidding for a spot in the CCAA Tournament.

San Marcos redshirt freshman right-hander Preston Kelly earned a save in all three wins last week over Sonoma State. He now has seven saves, which ranks second in the CCAA and 13th in the country.

This week: Today-Sunday vs. Cal State East Bay, 3 p.m./Noon (DH)/11 a.m.