SEASIDE, Calif. – Baseball is a wacky game and on Friday afternoon the wackiness went to a level that these two teams are familiar with.
Azusa Pacific came within six outs of overcoming an eight-run deficit before falling 13-12 against Cal State Monterey Bay.
It is the second straight season a similar scenario has played out between the two schools. In 2016 the Otters built a 10-0 lead only to have the Cougars tie the score. Cal State Monterey Bay did just enough in the late innings on Friday just as they did last season to get the victory.
Cal State Monterey jumped out to a pair of early six-run leads at 6-0 and 8-2 only to see the Cougar's offense come to life.
Trailing 8-2 entering the fifth inning, Azusa Pacific pieced together six runs to tie the score. Nick Estrella started the scoring with his first collegiate homerun. His drive to left centerfield was a two-run shot to get the Cougars within four runs. After a Mychael Goudreau RBI hit inched the Cougars closer, Pablo O'Connor knotted the score with a three-run blast to right centerfield.
As the Azusa Pacific middle relievers kept the home team off the scoreboard, the Cougars continued to add runs. An Estrella big fly to left centerfield gave Azusa Pacific a 9-8 edge in the sixth inning. The following inning Michael Staudinger added a solo homerun of his own to increase the lead to 10-8 after seven frames. Looking for another run, the Cougars were able to manufacture one when Justin Gomez scored on a wild pitch and an error the following stanza.
Just two innings away from getting the comeback win, the Cougars couldn't hold on. Cal State Monterey Bay took the lead as they scored four times in the eighth inning on four hits. The go-ahead run was scored on a wild pitch which allowed Hayden Duer to touch home. Undaunted by their 12-11 deficit, Goudreau worked a leadoff walk then scored two batters later on an O'Connor base knock.
The Otters loaded the bases with no outs in their portion of the final inning. They won the game on a Nick Vigo sacrifice fly to centerfield.
Estrella's three-hit, two-homerun game led the Cougar offense. The true freshman also scored three times. O'Connor had two base knocks and four RBI. The multi-hit games was rounded out by Cam Bennett's 2-for-4 afternoon with two RBI and two runs scored.
Saturday the three-game set comes to a close with an 11 a.m. first pitch.
