AZUSA, Calif. – With no margin for error, the Cougars are feeling no pressure.
Azusa Pacific took the second straight PacWest series in sweeping fashion as they won a pair against Academy of Art on Saturday.
With the wins, the Cougars have won eight straight to improve their record to 28-18 overall and 23-9 in conference games. Beginning on Friday the Cougar start a four-game series against rival California Baptist. Should the Cougars continue their winning streak and win all four games they would claim the PacWest title and the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Championships. One loss would end the title aspirations.
Game One – Azusa Pacific 16, Academy of Art 3
The Cougars scored the second most runs of the season in the rout. The Cougars scored at least one run in six of their eight at-bats during their 19-hit performance.
Steven Garrett led the hit parade with a 5-for-5 effort. The designated hitter hit two homeruns as he drove-in six runs and scored twice. Mychael Goudreau went 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Adrian Tovalin added a two-hit effort with three runs scored and four RBI.
It took one swing from Erick Luna to give the visitors a 1-0 lead two batters into the opener. Mitch Dergazarian's RBI double with two-outs scored Justin Gomez in the second inning to knot the game. Academy of Art briefly took the lead back in the third inning but the Cougars responded and took the lead for good in their portion of the stanza as they pieced together three runs on five hits. Tovalin, Michael Franco and Garrett each had RBI base knocks which gave the Cougars a 4-2 lead.
Azusa Pacific continued to put up crooked numbers as they scored two in the fourth inning then put a five spot on the scoreboard in the fifth inning. Highlighting those two frames were homeruns from Tovalin and Garrett. For Tovalin it was his fourth straight game with a long ball as he increased his PacWest homerun lead to 19.
Garrett popped his second homerun of the day during a two-run sixth inning. The scoring was rounded in the seventh as the Cougars scored their final three runs.
Game Two – Azusa Pacific 8, Academy of Art 3
A comfortable game had some drama in the late stage before the Cougars pulled away for the win.
The tandem of Cam Bennett and Justin Gomez each had multi-hit games with three and two respectively to pace the seven-hit game for the home team.
Matt Franco RBI single started the scoring in the second inning as Steven Garrett safely cross the plate. The Cougars expounded on the 1-0 lead with a three-spot in the third inning. A Justin Gomez single to rightfield highlighted the frame as Adrian Tovalin and Mychael Goudreau scored.
Academy of Art broke up the Kale Morton shutout in the fifth inning when Michael Maleski hit his first homerun of the season over the leftfield wall. The Urban Knight mounted a threat in the sixth inning as they loaded the bases with nobody out. Billy Sanford came out of the bullpen as he got out of the jam after inducing two run scoring sacrifice flies, he got Zack Trueblood looking for the final out.
In the bottom half of the sixth inning, the Cougars got their insurance runs back. After loading the bases, a Bennett triple cleared the bases and the Cougars were in front 7-3. Azusa Pacific added another run on a Tovalin infield RBI single which scored Bennett.
Morton got the win on the mound in his second start of the season. The lefthander gave-up just three hits and induced 11 ground ball outs in five innings as he won his fourth decision.
Sanford earned his sixth save of the season by throwing the final two innings.
