AZUSA, Calif. – Azusa Pacific posted their fifth PacWest doubleheader sweep of the season on Saturday afternoon with a pair of rallies against Concordia.
The Cougars continued their winning ways as they have proven victories in seven of their last nine contests to up their record to 24-18 overall and 19-9 overall. Concordia falls to 20-26 and 16-16 respectively.
Game One – Azusa Pacific 7, Concordia 6
Despite losing the lead twice, a little late inning drama eventually turned in the Cougars favor.
Similar to Friday's night win, the Cougars scored two in the first inning. Mychael Goudreau, who started the inning with a double, was brought home when Adrian Tovalin laced a single. Three batters later Tovalin scrambled home on a wild pitch to give his team an early 2-0 lead.
Concordia starter Spencer Moran settled down and his offense picked him up. The Eagles scored their first run in the second frame when Brian Fleischli's base knock scored Hunter Hollland. In the fifth inning Concordia took their first lead of the series when Ryan Land hit his second homerun of the season. The lefthander hits a line drive that just cleared the right field fence for the two-run shot.
In the seventh inning the Cougars loaded the bases with one out as Mitch Dergazarian walked then Cam Bennett and Tovalin recorded singles. With two outs Michael Staudinger took four straight pitchers for balls to earn the walk and game tying RBI which forced the Eagles to go to the bullpen. Justin Gomez came back from an 0-2 to count to force reliever Nick Boyett to a full count. After fouling a pitch the freshman drilled a double into the right centerfield gap for a three-run base knock and a 6-3 Cougars lead.
However, in the ninth inning Concordia put two runners on base as the tying run came to the plate. After David May induced a fly out from Chad Whiteaker, Spencer Nielsen hit a two-out three-run homerun to tie the game.
With one out, Pablo O'Connor brushed aside the brief set back as he drilled a 2-1 offering from Boyett deep into left centerfield for his second walk-off homerun of the season.
Tovalin had a team best three hits while scoring twice and driving into another run. Dergazarian also posted a multi-hit day with a 2-for-3 effort.
Game Two – Azusa Pacific 7, Concordia 2
An early deficit was not an issue.
Facing the Concordia line-up for the second time through in the third inning, Kale Morton ran into a bit of trouble. Luke Van Holten led off with a double and scored two batters later on a Ryan Land groundout. And despite getting into a base loaded one-out jam, the lefthander worked out of it with back-to-back strikeouts to limit the damage.
Dillion Miyashiro came out of the Azusa Pacific bullpen in the fourth inning where he shut down the Eagles in order. Azusa Pacific's offense came to life with a four-run fourth frame. The tying run came when Jose Cardona wild pitch allowed pinch runner Grant Gamble to score. The Cougars proceeded to load the bases then, with two outs, Pablo O'Connor ripped a double to left centerfield to clear the bases.
Justin Gomez improved on the Cougars 4-1 lead when he led off the fifth inning with a solo homerun to the opposite field. It was the lefthander's fourth homerun of the season. A Mitch Dergazarian fielder's choice led to Azusa Pacific's sixth run in the same inning as Gamble scored.
An Adrian Tovalin big fly in the sixth inning concluded the scoring for the Cougars. With the homerun the sophomore upped his season total to 16 which leads the PacWest.
Miyashiro earned the win after allowing just two hits and an unearned run. He moves to 4-2 on the season after three innings with three strikeouts. Billy Sanford closed out the game with a perfect seventh inning.
O'Connor went 3-for-4 in the nightcap with three runs batted in.
