AZUSA, Calif. – The Cougars welcomed Holy Names for a pair of PacWest games for Azusa Pacific's first conference home contests.
In both games of Friday's doubleheader, the Cougars enjoyed the benefits of the long ball as they hit six of them.
Game One – Azusa Pacific 8, Holy Names 7
Azusa Pacific scored all their runs via the homerun as they came back from a deficit twice to secure the victory.
The Hawks crossed the plate first as they cashed-in on Dusty Zeisler lead-off double on Chris Gnos's one-out groundout to second base. That lead was short lived. In the second inning, Mitch Dergazarian blasted a two-out, three-run home run as all three runners reached base with two out.
Holy Names responded in their next opportunity as they crossed the plate three times to retake the lead at 4-3. A solo home run in the fourth inning by Justin Gomez, his second of the season, knotted the score at 4-4. Azusa Pacific threatened to do more but couldn't score another run despite loading the bases.
In the seventh inning the Hawks scored three times to retake the lead. Ryan Fujinaga scored the first run when he crossed the plate on Chris Gnos sacrifice bunt attempt in which the Cougar committed an error. After Azusa Pacific brought in their third reliever of the game, Brandon O'Callaghan greeted him with a double to right centerfield which scored two. In their portion of the frame, the Cougars loaded the bases but couldn't get a run.
Despite the three-run deficit, Azusa Pacific took the lead in the eighth inning. After Dergazarian reached on a walk then Luke Huerta singled to left field with one out. Hawks reliever James Doyle nearly worked out of the jam as a he induced a Cam Bennett fly out but Adrian Tovalin smashed his eighth home run of the season to make the score 7-7. After Holy Names made their fourth pitching change of the game, Pablo O'Connor clubbed his eighth long ball of the season on the first pitch he saw to give the home the lead.
The duo of Billy Sanford and Kale Morton kept the Hawks' out of scoring position in the final inning to secure the win.
Both Tovalin and Gomez each had two hits as they drove home three and one run respectively. Degazarian recorded a three RBI, two run first game.
Game Two – Azusa Pacific 11, Holy Names 2
Cam Bennett set the tone in the first inning as the righthander hit his first career collegiate homerun. The sophomore deposit a two-run shot into the left centerfield fence which scored Luke Huerta, who start the game with a single and two stolen bases. A Steven Garrett two-out single scored Pablo
O'Connor as the Cougars up their early lead to 3-0 while scoring their first run without the benefit of a homerun.
Holy Names got a run back in the second inning when Alex Denobriga doubled home Sean Carrington. The unfazed Cougars put three more on the scoreboard when Adrian Tovalin blasted a three-run opposite field homerun.
Carrington continued the deep fly ball theme as his solo shot in the fourth inning cut the Cougars lead to 6-2. O' Connor got that run back in the bottom half of the frame with a sacrifice fly which scored Bennett.
The last real threat the Hawks had came in the sixth inning when they loaded the bases but Billy Sanford shutdown the opportunity. Azusa Pacific all but put the game away with a pair of runs during their half of the stanza. Tovalin hit his second big fly of the game, and third of the day, with a two-run shot down the left field line to round out the scoring.
Bennett finished the game with four hits, three runs scored while driving in two more. Tovalin's two homeruns gave him a six RBI game.
Joe Hutshing grabbed the win on the mound by going 5.1 innings with a season high seven strikeout during his 88-pitch contest.
