LAS VEGAS -- Azusa Pacific matched its best Desert Stinger Tournament performance by finishing 4-1 after splitting Saturday's games. The Cougars posted an impressive come-from-behind 10-6 win against Montana State Billings before surrendering five unearned runs in the sixth inning of a 6-3 defeat to Cal State Monterey Bay to wrap up the weekend tournament.

Now participating in the early-season tournament for the fifth consecutive year, Azusa Pacific is now 16-9 all-time at the Desert Stinger, matching the 4-1 performance of the Cougars' 2013 debut in the event.

For the weekend, Illiana Jimenez and Cayla Broussard led the offense by batting .412 (each was 7-for-17), and Kayla Jimenez delivered a pair of home runs and a team-high seven RBIs. Broussard and PacWest Preseason Player of the Year Nicki Sprague hit safely in all five games of the tournament, and Cougar pitchers combined for a 2.62 team ERA while notching a combined 14 strikeouts in 32 innings of work.

GAME 1: Azusa Pacific 10, Montana State Billings 6:

After falling behind 4-1 after three innings, a Kayla Jimenez home run to lead off the fifth inning sparked the Azusa Pacific offense, which had stranded seven base runners in the first four innings. However, the Jimenez home run to right field to lead off the fifth inning cut MSUB's lead to 4-2, and the Cougars produced another run later in the fifth to pull within 4-3.

The freshman trio of Jenna Gorman, Erinn Jaramillo, and Megan Tucker exploded in the middle of the lineup, as Gorman (No. 5 hitter) and Jaramillo (No. 6) each collected three hits while Tucker had two hits and two RBIs from the No. 7 spot in the lineup. Ariana von Zboray struck out five in five innings of relief to pick up the win.

After pulling within a run in the fifth inning, Jaramillo tied the game with a sixth-inning sacrifice fly to score Sprague from third, and Tucker's RBI double to center field pushed the Cougars in front, 5-4. Cal State Monterey Bay responded with a two-run home run of its own before Azusa Pacific capitalized on three Otter errors in the seventh to rally with five runs for the win.

GAME 2: Cal State Monterey Bay 6, Azusa Pacific 3:

Sprague hit safely for the fifth time this season, and Illiana Jimenez and Broussard tallied two hits each as the Cougars scored first in the third and moved ahead again, 2-1, on Emily Moran's first career home run in the top of the fifth inning. Moran also made a diving catch in right field to eliminate an early Otters scoring threat, and she led off the third with a well-hit ball to right-center which was caught at the fence by the CSUMB rightfielder.

An opportunity to add insurance runs to the 2-1 lead was squandered in the sixth, as the Cougars left the bases loaded without scoring a run, and Cal State Monterey Bay took advantage of three Azusa Pacific errors to score five runs (all unearned) and take a 6-2 lead. The Cougars plated another run on three more hits in the seventh inning before CSUMB closed it out.