AZUSA, Calif. -- Cameron Radonich lined a 1-out single to right field to drive in Robbie Lindsey with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning and lifting Azusa Pacific to a thrilling 1-0 win, completing a doubleheader sweep of the NAIA's No. 8-ranked and GSAC-leading Point Loma Nazarene.
The Cougars also took the opener, 6-5, and just prior to that finished a suspended contest from March 1 with a 7-5 win to make it 3-for-3 over the Crusaders.
Riding the arm of Andy Alstot, who pitched the Cougars' best game of the season, the Cougars battled for 7 innings until Radonich was able to deliver.
Alstot was brilliant on the mound. The senior tossed the Cougars' first complete game of the season, allowing just 2 hits. He struck out 6 and threw 4.1 innings of perfect baseball. He didn't allow his first hit until there were 2 outs in the sixth and no Crusader advanced past second.
Ryan Williams was just as sparkling for Point Loma. He scattered just 5 singles, 2 of them to Nick Mercado, and the Cougars' lone run was unearned.
In each of the final 4 innings, the Cougars used a sacrifice bunt to put the potential winning run on second base, and for the first three, Williams slammed the door.
However, the Crusaders played with fire one too many times, and the Cougars finally snuck up and bit. Lindsey started the inning by reaching first on a Crusader error. He moved to second on Shaun Beutner's sacrifice bunt, and then advanced to third on Jake Haaker's infield single to short. Traviss Hodge was intentionally walked, and Radonich delivered with a laser to right to score Lindsey with the game's lone run.
In the opener, Lindsey hit a 2-run homer in the fourth and Matt Dzama belted a 3-run shot in the fifth both off Point Loma starter Matt Woychak to push the Cougars out to a 6-2 lead. Three Cougar relievers then combined to hold off the Crusader charge.
Joe Bitonti relieved Cougar starter Brad McKinney in the fifth and pitched admirably. He forced the Crusaders to hit into a pair of double plays, including an inning-ender in the fifth to squelch their rally. Bitonti, who picked up his third win of the year, made just 1 mistake, surrendering a 2-run homer to Brad Vericker in the seventh.
Things got interesting in the eighth when Kelly Strickland gave up a 1-out walk to Mike Eshragh. After inducing Wayne Scheler to pop up to Lindsey at short, Strickland got what seemed to be an inning-ending groundout, but pinch hitter Richard Killen's chopper to third was lost in the setting sun by Ryan Marcos. Eshragh scored an unearned run and Killen landed on second as the tying run. Strickland worked out of the jam on the next batter, getting Ralphie Marin out on a comebacker.
Dzama worked a perfect ninth getting the Crusaders' 2-3-4 hitters in order for his second save of the day (he earned a save in the suspended game). McKinney went 4.1 innings, scattering 7 hits and just 1 earned run. Dzama was 2-for-4 with 2 runs and 3 RBIs. He was the only Cougar with more than 1 hit.
With the sweep, Azusa Pacific improves to 18-15 overall, 13-9 GSAC. Point Loma falls to 23-11 overall, 11-6 GSAC.
