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13
Vanguard VUSC 16-23, 11-20 GSAC
21
Winner Azusa Pacific APU 30-13, 20-11 GSAC
Vanguard VUSC
16-23, 11-20 GSAC
13
Final
21
Azusa Pacific APU
30-13, 20-11 GSAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Vanguard VUSC 1 4 0 0 3 4 0 1 0 13 11 1
Azusa Pacific APU 7 7 0 0 0 0 1 6 X 21 18 3

W: Lebsock, Garrett (10-3) L: SIEGMUND (1-3)

2
Vanguard VUSC 16-24, 11-21 GSAC
9
Winner Azusa Pacific APU 31-13, 21-11 GSAC
Vanguard VUSC
16-24, 11-21 GSAC
2
Final
9
Azusa Pacific APU
31-13, 21-11 GSAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Vanguard VUSC 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 1
Azusa Pacific APU 0 1 0 5 0 3 X 9 11 1

W: Gehle, Peter (5-2) L: JESSUP (3-6)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Joe Reinsch

Brice Cuts Loose

AZUSA, Calif. -- Junior first baseman Brice Cutspec hit 3 home runs, including one inside-the-park, in the opening game of Azusa Pacific's doubleheader sweep over Vanguard, hitting grand slams in back-to-back 7-run innings to start the 21-13 opening-game victory. Junior southpaw Peter Gehle tossed a complete-game for the NAIA's No. 14-ranked Cougars in the 9-2 nightcap win that completed the sweep.
 
Cutspec's 3-homer game was the second of his career, his first this season, and his 26 home runs this season ties Scott Hodsdon's 2007 record. Cutspec is already Azusa Pacific's career home run record holder, with Saturday's performance pushing his career total to 57.
 
"Brice had 1 inside-the-parker that Scott never had, and I thought about that as I was wheeling him around third base," joked Cougar head coach Paul Svagdis. "I was thinking, 'This is going to be an inside-the-parker, and I bet he's going to break the record by 1 this year.' Knowing that he's already tied the record, let's hope he just smashes it, but at the time I was thinking that might be the one that puts him over the edge."
 
The first 3 Cougars to bat in the opener each singled to load the bases for Cutspec, who drilled the first pitch from Vanguard starter Brett Siegmund over the right-center field fence for the grand slam, his first home run of the afternoon. Cutspec returned to the plate with the bases loaded again in the same inning, but flied out to center field to end Azusa Pacific's first 7-run frame.
 
With 2 outs in the bottom of the second inning, junior third baseman Ryan Dowell and freshman second baseman Sammy Soyring drew back-to-back 2-out walks to bring Cutspec back up with the bases loaded again. The 6-foot-4, 250-pound junior lifted an 0-2 pitch all the way to 410-foot fence in straightaway center field.  Vanguard centerfielder Jacob Wood crashed into the fence trying to catch the high fly ball as it caromed off the wall back into the field of play, and Cutspec rounded the bases for a stand-up inside-the-park grand slam, giving him 8 RBIs in the game's first 2 innings and pushing the Azusa Pacific lead to 14-5.
 
"Hitting an inside-the-park home run is definitely something I never thought I'd do," Cutspec said. "I thought it was just a triple, which is still kind of crazy. As I was coming to third, Coach started to wave me (home), and I had no idea what was going on or where the ball was at that point."
 
Cutspec smacked a line-drive home run to left to lead off the bottom of the seventh, answering a run of 7 straight Vanguard runs that pulled the Lions to within 14-12. After Vanguard plated a single run in the eighth to cut Azusa Pacific's lead to 15-13, senior leftfielder Stephen Gillette led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run, the first of 6 eighth-inning runs for the Cougars.
 
"It's very easy to look at the 14 runs after 2 innings and wonder how you didn't close that out right away," Svagdis said. "It's hard not to be that way – I wanted to sulk, feel bad and get upset and angry, but the reality was we had 3 innings to play and we had a 2-run lead at home, and that's how you've got to look at it. You can't think about what you gave up, you have to ask what you have right now."
 
Soyring's sacrifice fly to right pushed the lead to 17-13, and Cutspec was intentionally walked with runners on first and second to load the bases for junior third baseman Ryan Delgado. Delgado fell behind 0-2 before drawing 4 straight balls for the bases-loaded walk, and a groundout and wild pitch both scored runs before sophomore rightfielder Virgil Chavira rounded out the scoring with his fifth hit of the game, a run-scoring single through the right side.
 
"(Getting intentionally walked) is almost a compliment, and it sets the table for other guys on the team, especially when they're willing to walk runners into scoring position," Cutspec said. "It's great for our entire offense, and I've just got to take advantage of the opportunities I get when they don't (walk me)."
 
Every Azusa Pacific starter hit safely in the first game, with Chavira and Cutspec leading a group of 5 Cougars with multiple hits in the contest. Chavira was 5-for-6 with 3 RBIs, Cutspec was 3-for-5 with 9 RBIs, and Gillette, Dowell and senior shortstop Shaun Lane each tallied 2 hits.
 
"Over the last 3 days, Brice has brought a focused approach to the plate, he's brought a focused approach to his defense, and he's brought a focused approach to his baserunning," Svagdis said. "Let's all get real – he hit an inside-the-park home run. That ball was up in the air, and we either thought it was going to be caught or it was going out. There's a lot to be said for how he came sprinting out of the box. Although we expect it, it's hard when you're hitting balls out of the yard all the time, and you can't come jogging out of the box to get an inside-the-parker. That kind of leadership, by action, is the catalyst for the offense."
 
Senior righthander Garrett Lebsock scattered 2 runs on 3 hits over the final 4 innings to slow down a Vanguard offense that scored 11 runs off 3 different Azusa Pacific pitchers in the first 5 innings of the game. Lebsock was credited with the victory, running his record on the season to 10-3 with his seventh victorious decision as a reliever.
 
In the second game, Cutspec struck out in his first at-bat and drilled a line-drive single into left field in the third inning. With first base open in his next 2 at-bats, he was intentionally walked to bring up Delgado, who hit an RBI single to center that capped a 5-run fourth inning and hit a 3-run home run to right field in the bottom of the sixth inning.
 
"(Brice's teammates) know he's capable of being great," Svagdis said. "It's all about whether he focuses or not. He's going to have days where he's focused and goes 0-for-2, but the guys in the dugout are going to see that he's locked in. Teams aren't going to want to pitch to him. He's going to take his 2 walks and hit his hard lineout, and he might be 0-for-2 for the day, but guys are going to know he's locked in. When they feel he's locked in that way, I think it builds confidence for everybody else."
 
Delgado, Gillette and Soyring each collected 2 hits in the nightcap, and Gehle settled down after a rocky first 2 innings to pick up the complete-game win. Vanguard scored just single runs in the first and second innings, despite picking up 3 hits in each frame, but Gehle scattered just 3 hits and benefitted from a pair of double plays over the final 5 innings to complete the win.
 
Nicholas Akins and Derek Craddock each went 2-for-5 with a home run for Vanguard in the first game, and Eric Krzysiak homered in the top of the first for the Lions' only extra-base hit in the nightcap.
 
With the sweep, Azusa Pacific moves into a tie for second place in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings with Fresno Pacific, which split a doubleheader at GSAC-leader Point Loma Nazarene Saturday afternoon in San Diego. The teams are a game ahead of Biola and The Master's, who are both tied for fourth place after splitting Saturday doubleheaders.
 
"We still lack a little energy as a team." Svagdis said. "This feels like the first doubleheader sweep we've had in a while, and yet we still jump out of the dugout like we've done this a million times. In the past, we've had guys that had gone 24-25 the previous year, so they knew that every win that extended us beyond that .500 mark into that playoff race was so valuable. What we need to learn is that we have to play that way as a team. We need to compete, because winning is fun and we need to do more of it."
 
The Cougars are now 31-13 on the season and 21-11 in GSAC play, while Vanguard drops to 16-24 overall, 11-21 GSAC. Azusa Pacific finishes the conference schedule with 4 road games, beginning with a single 3 p.m. contest at Westmont Thursday afternoon in Santa Barbara.
 
HEAD COACH PAUL SVAGDIS
 
"I thought the guys were challenged being on the road, and like I said after Thursday's game, they did a good job handling a lot of adversity. We're going to have to clean up some pitching stuff, but in the seventh inning when they made it a 2-run ballgame, it's very easy to look at the 14 runs after 2 innings and wonder how you didn't close that out right away. It's hard not to be that way – I wanted to sulk, feel bad and get upset and angry. The reality was we had 3 innings to play and we had a 2-run lead at home, and that's how you've got to look at it. You can't think about what you gave up, you have to ask what you have right now. They came out, scored some runs and extended that lead for us, and Lebsock did a heck of a job going on short rest."
 
"Pete Gehle throwing a complete-game, that's why we flipped the rotation and had him throw the 7-inning game. There haven't been many good calls this year, but today actually worked out the way we hoped. We needed someone to throw a complete-game. We thought our best shot was Pete with the way he'd been pitching, and we thought the best shot would come in the 7-inning game. I thought we'd piece together the first game a little better."
 
"We lack a little energy as a team. This feels like the first doubleheader sweep we've had in a while, and we still jump out of the dugout like we've done this a million times. In the past, we've had guys that had gone 24-25 the previous year, so they knew that every win that extended us beyond that .500 mark into that playoff race was so valuable. What we need to learn is that we have to play that way as a team. We need to compete, because winning is fun and we need to do more of it."
 
"Brice had 1 inside-the-parker that Scott never had, and I thought about that as I was wheeling him around third base. I was thinking that this was going to be an inside-the-parker, and I bet he's going to break the record by 1 this year. Knowing that he's tied the record, let's hope he just smashes the record, but at the time I was thinking that might be the one that puts him over the edge."
 
"What Brice has done the last 3 days, he's brought a focused approach to the plate, he's brought a focused approach to his defense, and he's brought a focused approach to his baserunning. Let's all get real – he hit an inside-the-park home run. That ball was up in the air, and we either thought it was going to be caught or it was going out. There's a lot to be said for how he came sprinting out of the box. Although we expect it, it's hard when you're hitting balls out of the yard all the time, and you can't come jogging out of the box to get an inside-the-parker. That kind of leadership, by action, is the catalyst for the offense. Guys know he's capable of being great, it's all about whether he focuses or not. He's going to have days where he's focused and goes 0-for-2, but the guys in the dugout are going to see that he's locked in. Guys aren't going to want to pitch to him, he's going to take his 2 walks and hit his hard lineout. He might be 0-for-2 for the day, but guys are going to know he's locked in, and when they feel he's locked in that way, I think it builds confidence for everybody else."
 
BRICE CUTSPEC
 
"It's definitely something I never thought I'd do. I thought it was just a triple, which is still kind of crazy, so as I was coming to third, Coach started to wave me (home), I had no idea where the ball was at that point."
 
"It's almost a compliment, and it sets the table for other guys on the team, especially when they're willing to walk runners into scoring position. It's great for our entire offense, and I've just got to take advantage of the opportunities I get when they don't (walk me)."
 
"I feel like we're starting to finally come together the way we need to as a squad. We had a lull in the middle of the season, and it hurt us, but I feel like everybody has done their part and can be a catalyst to drive the whole team."
 
 
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