FRESNO, Calif. – An early deficit was not a problem.

The Cougars overcame a first inning hole to post a resounding 12-5 win against Fresno Pacific as the teams split the four-game set.

Azusa Pacific banged out double figure hits for the second time in the last three games as they posted a 14 hit afternoon.

Michael Staudinger and Mychael Goudreau each had three hit days to pace the offense as they drove in two and three runs respectively. Mitch Dergazarian put together a 2-for-3 afternoon with two runs scored and two more driven home. Cam Bennett scored four runs.

Down 5-2 after the fourth inning the Azusa Pacific bats came to life as they scored in each of the final five innings. The rally began with a two-run fifth inning. Dergazarian and Staudinger each produced run scoring singles to bring the Cougars within 5-4.

In the sixth frame Azusa Pacific took the lead for good. Bennett started the two-run inning with a RBI triple to left centerfield which scored Justin Gomez. Goudreau's single through the right side scored Bennett for what proved to be the game winning run. Pablo O'Connor provided a bit of insurance with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning.

With a three-run eighth inning the Cougars all but sealed the victory and put an exclamation point on the rally. Huerta hit a sacrifice fly for the first run of the stanza. Staudinger continued his strong hitting day with another RBI single. Adrian Tovalin's RBI single scored Dergazarian for the Cougars 10th run of the contest.

The final runs of the day for the Cougars came from a Goudreau RBI single and Dergazarian sacrifice fly in the final inning. After a month long road trip the Cougars return home for a PacWest series against Holy Names beginning Friday at 3 p.m.