Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 AZUSA, Calif. -- The field was soggy and cold, but Azusa Pacific was red hot.
Despite nearly 3 hours worth of rain delays, Azusa Pacific generated plenty of offense with a combined 25 runs and 32 hits and rode back-to-back complete-game efforts by Derek Wohlers and Brad McKinney to post a doubleheader sweep of Vanguard on a rainy Saturday in Azusa. The Cougars took the opener 11-3 and completed the sweep with a 14-2 win in the nightcap.
With the sweep, the Cougars, who have won 13 of their past 18, improve to 26-15 overall, 11-10 GSAC, while Vanguard drops to 10-29, 3-18.
In the opener the Cougars scored 3 unearned runs in the first and never trailed. After a 2-hour rain delay, Vanguard scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth to get within 4-3, but Wohlers slammed the door from then on, and the Cougar bats unloaded.
After the Lions made it 4-3 in the fifth, the Cougars began to blow the game open with 3 runs in their half of the fifth. Joe Morrison, who had a 2-RBI single in the first, belted his first home run of the season, a 2-run shot to make it 6-3, and then Stephen Vogt drove in Jeff Staniland with a single to make it 7-3.
Wohlers tossed a near-perfect final 4 innings, allowing just 3 more Vanguard runners none of whom reached by way of a hit. The senior finished with his first career complete-game, scattering 5 hits and allowing 3 runs, just 2 earned, while striking out 5.
Ryan Marcos hit his sixth home run of the season in the sixth, Nick Mercado scored an unearned run in the seventh, and Cameron Radonich, who finished 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs had a 2-RBI single in the eighth to complete the scoring.
Vogt, who extended his hitting streak to 22 straight, and Morrison each finished with 3 hits. Morrison also had 4 RBIs. Staniland and Billy Gwinn each had 2 hits apiece.
As impressive as Wohlers was in the opener, McKinney was just as masterful in the nightcap. Aside from a 2-run blast by Vanguard's Jason Searle in the first, McKinney was dominating as he retired 18 of the game's final 21 batters, allowing just one more hit, a double by Adam Yoder, the rest of the night.
Down 2-0 before stepping to the plate, the Cougars jumped all over Lion starter Marcus Harris and tied it with a pair of runs in their first at-bat. Radonich led off with a walk, and Vogt moved him to third and extended his hitting streak to 23 games with a double. Robbie Lindsey then delivered a 2-out, 2-RBI single.
Vogt, who had 7 hits on the day, finished 4-for-5 and broke the tie with a 3-run homer in the second, his fifth of the season to give the Cougars a 5-2 lead, and Lindsey followed with his seventh of the season to make it 6-2. The Cougars then scored 8 runs in their final 4 at-bats, scoring at least one run in every inning.
The rest was left up to McKinney, who tossed his third complete-game of the season, allowing just 2 first-inning runs and 3 hits while striking out 7 to move to 8-4 on the season.
Lindsey finished 5-for-5 with 4 RBIs and a trio of doubles, bringing his career total to 49, which breaks Scott Raftery's 25-year old record for career doubles. He also needs just 2 more to tie the single-season mark of 22 as well as needing 20 more hits to tie Rich Scheevel for the Cougars' career hits lead with 242.