AZUSA, Calif. -- Everybody remembers their first home run, but senior leftfielder Sona Babayan made her first career home run especially memorable by racing around all four bases for an inside-the-park two-run home run that lifted Azusa Pacific to an 8-4 win over Cal State San Bernardino in the second game of a doubleheader split Tuesday evening.

The Cougars dropped the opener, 4-2, but Babayan went two-for-three with five RBIs on a bases-clearing first-inning triple and her second-inning two-run home run to lead Azusa Pacific to an eight-run outburst in the first two innings of the nightcap. After just two innings, the Cougars held an 8-1 lead, and Cal State San Bernardino's only threat to the lead came in a three-run fourth inning after the Coyotes loaded the bases with no outs against sophomore lefthander Carly Xepoleas. 

"Sona has made leaps and bounds of improvement in the last year and a half, and she really had an outstanding junior season last year," Azusa Pacific head coach Carrie Webber said. "She was one of our consistent bats last year, and she just picked up where she left off. A lot of that is her having the confidence to know she's good enough to go out there and make things happen."

After the Coyotes cut the lead to 8-4, Xepoleas settled in to retire 11 of the final 12 hitters she faced with 10 of them retired by groundout. She finished with three strikeouts and 16 ground ball outs in the complete-game win, her first victory this season after posting an 18-7 record last year as a freshman.

In the opener, Babayan's second-inning leadoff double helped the Cougars respond after giving up two runs in the top of the second inning. A bunt single from Janelle Eccles advanced Babayan to third, and she scored on a throw to second base when Eccles was caught stealing. When CSUSB added an insurance run in the third inning, expanding the lead to 3-1, Azusa Pacific answered again with back-to-back singles from Desiree Chavez and Abry Moreno leading off the bottom of the third inning. Chavez eventually scored on Katrina Oviedo's sacrifice bunt to cut the deficit to a single run, 3-2.

Azusa Pacific had runners on base in each of the final four innings, with runners in scoring position in three of those four frames, but the Cougars couldn't cash them in for runs against the Coyotes' left-handed starting pitcher Cassandra Williams, who struck out five and stranded seven Azusa Pacific baserunners.

"Right now, we're a little rusty and you can tell we haven't quite put all the moving pieces together," Webber said. "That's made it tough to pick up a sweep, but a split at least shows we're competing. Now it's time to win that first one and make the adjustments to get that second win. The more we play, the better we'll be at making adjustments and feel more comfortable out there."

Williams earned the decision in both games for Cal State San Bernardino, picking up the opening win after scattering two runs (one earned) on nine hits in a seven-inning complete-game effort before departing after surrendering four runs in one inning of work in Game Two.

Babayan and Chavez each had two hits in the opener, and Babayan and Illiana Jimenez tallied two hits each in the nightcap. Sophomore third baseman Nicki Sprague hit safely in both games, as she did in last week's season opener at UC San Diego, and after closing out last year with hits in five consecutive games she now owns a nine-game hit streak dating back to last year.

After the split, Azusa Pacific is now 2-2 on the year while Cal State San Bernardino sits at 3-3. The Cougars have five games scheduled at this weekend's Desert Stinger Tournament in Las Vegas, Nev., before returning home for a 12-game homestand which starts with a Tuesday, Feb. 17 doubleheader against Adelphi (N.Y.) University.