AZUSA, Calif. -- Millions of travelers drive down Historical Route 66 everyday. Matt Dzama took his trip Wednesday night.
The Azusa Pacific senior hammered an opposite field 2-run homer that cleared not only the right center field fence of Cougar Field, but also across the historical strip just beyond the fence to literally lift Azusa Pacific to a thrilling 2-1 non-conference win over neighboring La Verne.
Dzama's heroics were just one half of the story, however, as fellow seniors Joe Bitonti and Chad Clark battled with La Verne's ace Allan Sarrail in a classic and rare pitching dual.
Sarrail, an All-SCIAC lefty, handcuffed the Cougar bats for nearly the entire night, throwing 5.1 innings of no-hit ball. In all, Sarrail allowed just 5 hits, 4 of them singles, and a walk. He made just 1 mistake and got little help at the plate from his teammates.
"Sarrail is an ace in the SCIAC, and he was lighting us up," said Azusa Pacific first-year head coach Paul Svagdis, "but at a certain point we started putting the ball in play and were just missing. It's one of those things where if you're facing a good pitcher and those balls don't fall, you get a game like this."
The Leopards jumped on the board first with a run in the third inning off a sacrifice fly by Aaron Mendoza. Clark, who was working on a limited pitch count for the second straight game, had hit the first 2 batters of the inning and walked the third to load the bases. After the sac fly, Clark worked out of his second jam of the night to end the danger. La Verne also had runners on second and third with just 1 out in its first at-bat.
Clark had his second straight sharp outing, working the first 3 innings, allowing just 1 hit and walking 3, while adding 4 strikeouts. Bitonti (2-1) threw 6 scoreless innings, scattering 4 hits. Twice, La Verne put runners on third base, including in the seventh after a leadoff double, but Bitonti slammed the door to allow the Cougars to make a run.
"Clark's put back-to-back solid performances together," said Svagdis. "He's made adjustments and is getting better. Joe was just awesome tonight. We were only going to throw him 2 innings, but he was doing well, and we wanted to give him a shot at winning this thing. He kept the ball down and was getting outs."
Billy Gwinn led off the seventh with a single up the middle for his only hit of the night, and then Dzama gave the Cougars the lead and eventually the win with his blast.
"That was the furthest I've seen him hit one this year, and it was an opposite field shot too," said Svagdis. "He's starting to hit within himself now and good things are happening."
The win snaps the Cougars' 2-game skid and brings them to within one more win over the Leopards to deadlock the all-time series with their longtime local rivals at 45-45. In 89 meetings since 1966, La Verne now holds a slim lead, 45-44. The Cougars have won 7 straight over ULV.
"The energy level was much better today," said Svagdis. "That's all we talk about is having energy, staying positive and enjoying what you're doing. We did that today."
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 11-12 overall. La Verne drops to 5-13.
