The Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) Sea Lions baseball team punched its ticket to the College World Series in Lewiston, Idaho later this week with a 12-1 win over conference rival Azusa Pacific University in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) tournament May 14. PLNU and APU were both representing the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) in NAIA postseason play. PLNU’s victory assures the program of its first College World Series appearance in five years and its fourth overall appearance (previously in 1993, 1994, 2004 and 2009). The No. 3-ranked Sea Lions open the College World Series against No. 6-ranked Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach) on Friday at 3 p.m., PST. If PLNU wins, it will have the weekend off before resuming play Monday. “It went really well. The offense hits its stride (outscoring opponents 27-4 in three games) and our pitching has been outstanding,” said PLNU head baseball coach Joe Schaeffer. Sea Lion starter Brandon Dixon dominated APU batters. Dixon gave up four hits and one run and struck out six in an eight-inning performance. PLNU advanced to the final game of the NAIA opening round after defeating British Columbia 7-2 the previous day. The Sea Lions benefited from another strong pitching performance when starter Chris Honer scattered eight hits and gave up two runs in eight innings of work. The Sea Lions began the opening round with a convincing 8-1 win over APU to help senior Andrew Bovich raise his record to a perfect 12-0. Bovich gave up nine hits but allowed only one run in another eight-inning performance. Bovich tied current major leaguer and former San Diego Padre Mike Ekstrom’s school record for single-season wins. Coincidentally, Ekstrom set his record when the Sea Lions last made the College World Series in 2004. Senior center fielder Kurt Steinhauer was a constant irritation to opponents throughout the opening round as he led the Sea Lion offense with an 8-for-13 opening round performance and scored five runs. “He (Steinhauer) made a lot of other plays in the field that didn’t show up in the box score,” Schaeffer said. Steinhauer arrived at PLNU the fall after the Sea Lions, previous College World Series appearance five years ago. He sat out his first year as a redshirt freshman and now — four years later — will get his opportunity at winning a title. Complementing the starting pitching, which went a total of 24 of the 27 innings pitched in the series, relievers Kevin Soares, Kenny Houser and Jayson Swen each pitched a scoreless inning with no hits allowed. Thanks to the strong performance by the starters and limited use of the bullpen, the Sea Lions will enter the College World Series well-rested. Schaeffer said he has been comparing the current club with the 2004 club all season. “The main difference [this season] would be that we have a deeper pitching staff, but the similarities are that both clubs ran the bases well and had good chemistry,” Schaeffer said.