In a double-elimination baseball tournament everyone's pitching staff is going to be tested. Winning the first game and jumping into the winner's bracket, especially if you can save some arms, is a huge advantage.
The College World Series could not have started in a much better way for Point Loma Nazarene University. The Sea Lions got a fantastic outing from Senior All-American Dylan Miller in a 2-1 win over Indiana (PA) to open the D-II CWS in Cary, NC.
Miller, a Coronado High School kid, was stellar. He tossed 7.0 innings of 1-run ball, striking out seven along the way. He pitched one game in the CWS two years ago and that experience certainly helped him settle in on Saturday.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
The usually potent PLNU offense was held down for the most part by IUP starter Mark Edeburn. The only runs they pushed across came on an Eric Smelko RBI groundout and a run-scoring single from Esai Santos. That would be enough for a deep and talented staff.
Christian Williams handled a scoreless 8th and All-American closer James Sashin worked around a single and a walk to get the save and send the Sea Lions to the next round with plenty of arms still fresh. They'll play again on Monday afternoon at 3:00 pm San Diego time against the winner of Saturday's late game between Central Missouri and Angelo St.
