AZUSA, Calif. -- In a 24-hour span, Azusa Pacific pulled out back-to-back wins in its final at-bat, but the Cougars had nothing left for a deep, rested Point Loma Nazarene squad that posted a 12-1 win in Thursday night's championship of the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round tournament.
As if junior catcher Ryan Delgado's walkoff shot Wednesday night hadn't provided enough drama for Azusa Pacific, the Cougars rallied from a daunting 8-1 deficit for a 15-12 win thanks in part to Delgado's bases-clearing ninth-inning double. It seemed as though Azusa Pacific had caught lightning in a bottle and would keep lighting up the scoreboard en route to a program-record third consecutive NAIA World Series appearance. However, the 24-hour rollercoaster that had energized the Cougars on their home field also left it emotionally and physically spent heading into a matchup with the tournament's top seed, the GSAC regular-season and postseason tournament champion Point Loma Nazarene.
"I think we were tapped out," Delgado said. "Once we came back and won that first game today, I thought we were just going to mow on through and keep on scoring, but we were at the end of our pitching."
In an elimination game to start the afternoon, Azusa Pacific got off to a sluggish start, perhaps still feeling the effects of the hangover from the previous night's emotional walkoff win over conference rival Biola. British Columbia shortstop Sammie Starr homered to lead off the game, and Alex White and Jon Syrnyk smashed back-to-back doubles off the Cougars' senior starter Matt Stone, whose energy was already sapped due to a bout with the flu. Junior righthander Garrett Granitz relieved Stone after just 10 pitches, and Granitz got 3 straight groundouts to shortstop to escape the inning with a 3-0 deficit.
After sophomore rightfielder Virgil Chavira homered to right in the top of the second inning, British Columbia answered with 5 more runs in the bottom of the second to take an 8-1 lead after just 2 innings of play. Chavira plated another run in the third with a sacrifice fly, and junior first baseman Brice Cutspec hit his 30th home run of the season, a 3-run shot to right that capped a 4-run inning and pulled the Cougars to within 8-6. Azusa Pacific added 5 more in the top of the fifth to take an 11-8 lead, using a variety of singles, walks, and wild pitches to take its first lead of the contest.
"We were feeling pretty good after last night's game, so our energy level was good coming into today because we knew we could score runs," Cougar head coach Paul Svagdis said. "We knew UBC was also a little low on pitching, so we knew it would come down to who could out-swing the other team. We had some guys come up big for us, and I'm really proud of the guys for that."
An inning later, senior centerfielder Drew Evans hit a 2-out double down the left-field line, and senior shortstop Shaun Laneknocked a single into left that brought Evans around third base for a close play at the plate. Evans cruised past the plate without a tag from British Columbia catcher Jon Torrie, but home-plate umpire Heath Jones ruled that Evans cleat missed the corner of the plate and then ejected Azusa Pacific head coach Paul Svagdis during a heated argument over the call.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Thunderbirds registered back-to-back 1-out singles off senior righthander Garrett Lebsock, whose gutsy 5.1-inning relief effort put his team in position for another thrilling finish. After junior Ryan Rosenhahn took the mound, a Cougar error loaded the bases, and Jon Syrnyk's sacrifice fly cut Azusa Pacific's lead to 11-9 before a wild pitch brought home another runner to make it a 1-run ballgame at 11-10. Scott Webster knocked a full-count offering over the left-center field fence to give the Thunderbirds a 12-11 lead, but Chavira answered with a game-tying 2-out solo shot in the top of the eighth inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, the first 2 Thunderbirds reached on a single and a hit-batsman, and the runners moved to second and third with no outs on a passed ball. Rosenhahn struck out Ben Torrie for the first out before issuing a 4-pitch walk to pinch-hitter Mitch Grossell to load the bases. Senior righthander Christian Gagné came into the game in what couldn't have been a more challenging situation, facing the top of a Thunderbird lineup that began with Starr, who was 5-for-5 in the game and 10-for-13 in the tournament at that point. Gagné was up for the challenge, however, striking Starr out on a nasty 0-2 curveball in the dirt for the second out of the inning. Then, after falling behind in the count to White, 3-1, came back with a strike before painting the outside corner with the count full for another strikeout that stranded all 3 Thunderbirds baserunners.
British Columbia's Shawn Hetherington, who labored through the final 4.2 innings for a depleted Thunderbirds pitching staff, induced back-to-back groundouts to start the ninth inning before senior third baseman Ryan Dowell kept the inning alive with a 2-out single up the middle. Junior designated hitter Chris Feicht's grounder to third went through third baseman Ryan Pilgrim's legs for a 2-out error that brought Cutspec to the plate with 2 runners on. British Columbia opted to match the right-handed Hetherington up with the right-handed Delgado, rather than pitch to Cutspec's powerful left-handed bat, intentionally walking Cutspec to load the bases for Delgado.
"Hitters sometimes take it personally when coaches intentionally walk guys," Svagdis said. "Based on the scenario, it was a smart coaching move, but that's why you put those guys together in the lineup. You want to make that manager make that decision – in a tie game do I pitch to 30 home runs or do I put that guy on and go against the right-hander? We felt very comfortable in making those situations happen, and the success of both of those guys really relied on each other."
After fouling off a 2-1 pitch and taking a ball to run the count full, Delgado smashed Hetherington's 3-2 offering to left-center, where it hit the top of the wall for a bases-clearing double that gave the Cougars a 15-12 lead.
"I was just trying to get a good swing on the ball and make something good happen," Delgado said. "They took a chance, and I was just happy to come out on top again."
Senior righthander Ben Jones retired the first 2 batters in the bottom of the ninth before the Thunderbirds loaded the bases with a double, a walk and a single to left. Pinch-hitter Jordan Pandoff laced Jones' 1-0 pitch down the first-base line, but the Cougars' ninth-inning defensive replacement for Cutspec at first base, senior Titus Lester, dove to his left and picked the ball just before it hit the dirt for the game-saving lineout that sent the Cougars into the Opening Round tournament championship against top-seeded Point Loma Nazarene.
"There's so many things that went on during the course of season that these seniors need to look back and realize that they did things the right way," Svagdis said. "Seeing the fact that they hung tough throughout the year is really impressive to me, because I've challenged them a lot this year. I challenged their toughness and their energy level, and consistently they stepped up to that challenge. This was a phenomenal group of seniors that I'm really going to miss."
Azusa Pacific drew first blood in the evening's championship game. Senior rightfielder Eddie Crespo led off the game with a base hit to center to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. Crespo moved to second on Feicht's 1-out single, then scored from second on Point Loma shortstop Tyler Kuehl's throwing error to first base while trying to complete a double play on a Cutspec grounder.
Junior righthander Scott Sakoda took the mound for his first collegiate start for the Cougars, and he recorded 2 strikeouts in a scoreless first inning. However, the Point Loma Nazarene offense homered off Sakoda in 4 straight innings, with back-to-back shots in the fifth inning knocking Sakoda out of the game with the Sea Lions leading 9-1. Point Loma Nazarene added 3 runs, all from home runs, in the next 2 innings for the final 12-1 margin. In all, the Sea Lions hit 7 home runs, with infielders Kuehl and Wes Kartch hitting 2 apiece.
"The most disappointing part of today is not being able to come back to the park tomorrow and be with this group," Svagdis said. "I loved being around this team, because it was a great group of guys. That will be the toughest part, waking up tomorrow knowing that today was the last day we're all together as a unit."
With the win, Point Loma Nazarene takes its 41-11 overall record to the NAIA World Series, its fourth appearance in program history and first since 2004. Azusa Pacific's campaign comes to an end with a final record of 36-20.
