AZUSA, Calif. -- After a grueling week where Azusa Pacific played 7 games in 7 days, this is just what the doctor ordered.

Matt Dzama's tenth home run of the season broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth, and six Cougar pitchers combined to 2-hit Pomona-Pitzer in a 6-1 non-conference victory in Azusa.

The win snaps the Cougars' mild 3-game losing skid, which they suffered on the tail-end of a Spring Break trip to Idaho, but it is also their sixth win in the past 9 games.

On a night when first-year Azusa Pacific head coach Paul Svagdis was facing his former team that finished a perfect 18-0 in winning the 2002 SCIAC crown last year, his pitch-by-committee game plan worked to perfection tonight. Kelly Strickland set the tone with a perfect first, and Andy Alstot followed with a pair of perfect innings, recording 3 strikeouts.

Marc Mason delivered the Sagehens' first hit of the night to lead off the fourth off Derek Wholers, the Cougars third pitcher of the night, and he later scored an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Jonas Swyer to give Pomona Pitzer a 1-0 lead. Josh Breckley worked the next 2 innings, allowing just 1 hit to pick up his third win of the season.

The Cougars tied the game on a Nick Mercado RBI single in the fifth and then blew the game open with 5 runs in the sixth. Billy Gwinn led off the sixth with a single through the left side, and Dzama followed with a bomb over the left-center field fence to break the tie. They scored 3 more times in the inning, getting back-to-back RBI singles from Cameron Radonich and Alex Valadez.

Derek Wright and Mike Medlock then finished the job and shut down the Sagehens over the final 3 innings, allowing just 1 runner (hit-by-pitch) in the ninth.

Gwinn, Shaun Beutner and Ryan Marcos each had 2 hits apiece, combining for half of the Cougars' 12 hits all off of Sagehen starter Alex Smith.

With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 24-20 overall, while Pomona-Pitzer drops to 22-9.