Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 AZUSA, Calif. -- Jeff Staniland spent 4 years beating Concordia, so why should anything change now?
Staniland, who lost just once to Concordia in 4 seasons on the GSAC hardwood, delivered a 1-out walk-off sacrifice fly to lift Azusa Pacific to an 8-7 win in the nightcap to salvage a doubleheader split with the Eagles.
The Eagles erased a 4-0 deficit in the opener to post a 7-5, 10-inning win.
Azusa Pacific snaps a 3-game losing skid and moves to 14-10 overall, 4-7 GSAC. Concordia is now 9-11, 5-4.
Joe Morrison led off the seventh with a pinch-hit single to short, and he advanced to second on Ryan Marcos' sacrifice bunt and then to third on a wild pitch. Concordia opted to intentionally walk Cameron Radonich in order to get to the Staniland, who sent a 2-2 pitch from Joel Schilling to right-center field that scored Morrison.
With the Cougars on the brink of getting swept in the nightcap, Stephen Vogt delivered his lone hit of the game in the sixth when he laced a single that grazed the right field foul line and scored both Jeff Staniland and Nate Leiser to tie the game at 7-7.
The Eagles roughed up Cougar starter Johnny Soberal for 3 runs on the strength of 5 straight hits in the first to take a 3-0 lead. Robbie Lindsey answered with his fifth home run of the season in the bottom of the first off Eagle starter Davin Morita to put the Cougars on the board.
The Cougars tied the game at 3 with a pair in the second and then took a 5-3 lead in the third when Ryan Marcos belted an RBI-double to left center, and Cameron Radonich followed with a sacrifice fly. However, Concordia answered back with 2 more in the fourth on RBI singles by Ryan Miller and Landon Cortenbach to tie the game at 5.
The Eagles re-took the lead in the fifth on Joey Hendricks' sacrifice fly, and Joel Schelling made it 7-5 with a solo home run.
Brad McKinney picked up the win after tossing the final 2 innings of scoreless relief. Lindsey finished with 2 hits and now needs just 2 more to become just the second player in Azusa Pacific history to collect 200 career hits.
With the opener tied 5-5, Concordia pinch-hitter Greg Conover led off the tenth with a line-drive home run over the left field fence off McKinney, who came on relief. McKinney then forced Nick Lentine into a groundout, but Concordia strung together 3 straight singles to load the bases and chase McKinney.
Brandon Sisk came in and struck out Ryan Miller, who finished 4-for-6, but he walked Christian Martinez to force in the final run before ending the inning.
Concordia erased a 4-0 deficit with 3 runs in the fifth. The then took a 5-4 lead in the sixth on Chaz Carlson's 2-run shot off Soberal, who relieved Jeremy Hess. At that point, the game turned into a pitcher's dual as McKinney relieved Soberal and scattered 3 hits over the next 3.2 innings to keep the Cougars in the game. The Eagle pitchers were equal to the task as well as 3 Eagles' combined to retire the final 15 Cougars.
Ryan Marcos led off the sixth with his third home run of the season to tie the game, 5-5. However, Concordia starter Scott Brunasso got the next 3 outs. Bart Larson relieved Bruanasso and pitched a perfect 3 innings of relief to pick up his first win of the season, and Lance Fujii threw a perfect tenth to earn the save. Scheling was 3-for-3 with 3 runs, and Carlson had a pair of hits.
The Cougars scored a pair of unearned runs in the first to take a 2-0 lead. Vogt then had an RBI-groundout, and Lindsey followed with an RBI-single in the second to give the Cougars a 4-0 lead.
Hess made his first start in 2 weeks and was brilliant for 4 innings, allowing just 2 hits and 1 run, before being lifted. The Cougars were held to just 6 hits on the day, 5 of them singles.