AZUSA, Calif. -- Seniors Ryan Delgado and Brice Cutspec hit back-to-back home runs in their final Cougar Baseball Complex at-bats, complementing strong pitching from another pair of seniors for a 10-1 win over Westmont in the final home game of the 2010 season Thursday night.
Delgado extended his Golden State Athletic Conference hitting streak to 25 games with a 3-for-3, 4-RBI effort, his eighth straight GSAC game with at least 2 hits. He also hit 2 home runs, lifting his season total to an NAIA-leading 20, becoming the only player in Azusa Pacific history to have back-to-back 20-homer seasons.
"I'm seeing the ball really well," Delgado said. "Since this is my last year on the college level, I just want to show what I can do, go out there and have fun, and be as relaxed as possible."
The 5-foot-11 catcher crushed an 0-2 pitch to left with 1 out in the first inning, a 2-run shot to open the scoring, and he waited out full counts for walks in his next 2 plate appearances before hammering a 1-out double to straightaway center in the sixth. Delgado finished off his night by making Westmont reliever Ian Lawler pay for a leadoff walk in the eighth inning, punishing a 2-0 fastball for another 2-run shot to left that started a 4-run inning.
"I knew it was our last game at home, and I wanted to do what I could to help my fellow seniors leave this ballpark with a win," Delgado said. "This is our field, so we wanted to go out there and compete."
Cutspec, the NAIA career home run record holder, followed Delgado's eighth-inning blast with his 76th career home run, a solo shot that gave Azusa Pacific a 9-1 lead. Cutspec also followed Delgado's sixth-inning double by smashing a 3-0 pitch off the top of the center-field fence for an RBI double. The Cougars' career leader in hits, home runs, RBIs, total bases and games played, Cutspec went 2-for-5 in his final Cougar Baseball Complex contest.
"I really wanted to end my career on a good note, and I wasn't happy with my first couple of at-bats today," Cutspec said. "I had the green light in a 3-0 count and got a good pitch to hit, and after that I felt great again. Sometimes it just takes one good swing to feel better. In my last at-bat, I figured I would see a lot of off-speed so I needed to just sit back on it. It was a great way to have my last home at-bat."
Senior lefthander Peter Gehle fired 7 strong innings of 3-hit ball, surrendering the Warriors' lone run on Coby Cress' second-inning solo home run. Gehle struck out 9 and his only walk was an intentional pass, finishing what was likely his final collegiate appearance by retiring 11 consecutive batters. After giving up a leadoff single to start the third, Gehle made it through the end of the seventh without surrendering another hit, and the 6-foot-6 southpaw finished his outing with back-to-back strikeouts.
Senior righthander Garrett Granitz finished things off with 2 scoreless innings of 1-hit relief, striking out 1 and recording the other 5 outs on infield groundouts.
Nine of Azusa Pacific's 14 hits went for extra bases, including freshman third baseman Brendan Casey's solo home run to straightaway center that led off the second inning. In addition to the back-to-back sixth-inning doubles from Delgado and Cutspec, the Cougars got doubles from junior centerfielder Josh Leite, sophomore shortstop Sammy Soyring and freshman second baseman Tyler Putjenter. Senior designated hitter Chris Feicht reached based 4 times in 5 plate appearances, going 1-for-2 with 3 walks.
"I think today's game says a lot about the seniors," Cougar head coach Paul Svagdis said. "For them to go out on a strong note at home makes me happy for them. Despite the adversity and the lack of meeting expectations for the season, there wasn't one day that any of the coaches or the players in our program walked on the field and didn't feel like the seniors were working hard every day to win. They did it the right way, and throughout the adversity I was really proud of the way they handled themselves."
Westmont threatened to cut into what was a 4-1 Azusa Pacific lead in the third inning, when a potential double-play grounder was dropped on the second-base turn. That error, along with a 1-out passed ball, put runners on second and third with 1 out, but Gehle struck out Timothy Leary for the second out. After issuing the intentional walk to Cress to load the bases, Gehle induced an inning-ending infield popup to end the Warrior threat.
"I don't want to downplay the nice job we did out there in a lot of areas," Svagdis said, "but we also made a couple of defensive mistakes in the middle and we had offensive lulls during the game where we had guys in scoring position with less than 2 outs where we didn't deliver."
"There's a side of today where I walk out of here feeling proud of what the guys did, but there's a coaching side that says our process wasn't great for 9 innings. Every game means something, because you go out to compete to win and play well. I don't care if the playoffs aren't on the line, we're going to go out and compete, play well, and play to our process, and we still have to get better with that. I don't want to sell Westmont short, either, because I thought they pitched well and they competed, but we had opportunities to break that game open early and we didn't do it."
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 19-28 overall and 12-22 in GSAC play, and the Cougars' final home record in 2010 was 13-10. Westmont drops to 12-33 overall, 8-26 GSAC, and the teams both wrap up the season with a noon doubleheader Saturday at Westmont's completely-renovated Russ Carr Field in Santa Barbara.
