AZUSA, Calif. – After one streak came to an end, Azusa Pacific is looking to start another one.
The Cougars lost for the first time in over month but rebounded with an explosions of homeruns in the second game to earn the PacWest split against Fresno Pacific.
Tomorrow at Noon the Cougars will look to take three of the four games in the series.
Game One – Fresno Pacific 9, Azusa Pacific 8
Rally was the norm during the opener as Fresno Pacific ended the Cougars 13-game winning streak.
After the Cougars scored the first run in the opening frame on a Pablo O'Connor RBI base knock, the Sunbirds responded with two runs in the third and fourth innings respectively to take a three-run lead. Azusa Pacific responded by scoring five runs in the fifth inning. They crossed the plate five times thanks to just two hits while taking advantage of an error and hit by pitch. The big blow came when Adrian Tovalin hit a two-out three-run homerun on the first pitch he saw. Each run was unearned.
Azusa Pacific looked to be in solid control when they added another run in the seventh inning on a Mychael Goudreau homerun. Trailing 7-5, the Sunbirds put together a five-run inning of their own in the eighth stanza. After the first two runners reached via a single and hit batter, pinch hitter Braden Frankfort hit Billy Sanford's 2-2 pitch over the right centerfield wall. The Sunbirds scored their final two runs in the frame on a Tristen Alvarez RBI double then a throwing error which allowed Alvarez to cross the plate.
A Cam Bennett one-out triple in the ninth inning gave the Cougars hope for another rally. He scored when O'Connor grounded out to the shortstop. Justin Gomez lined out to rightfield for the 27th out.
O'Connor continues to put together strong offensive effort as he went 3-for-5 with three RBI. It was his team leading 10th multi-hit game of the season. Goudreau and Bennett each had two hits and scored twice.
Game Two – Azusa Pacific 16, Fresno Pacific 3
Adrian Tovalin took control of the game with a trio of swings as Azusa Pacific won the nightcap.
The junior hit a homerun in each of the first two innings totaling seven runs scored as the Cougars hit the plate eight times in the opening frames. Tovalin started his baseball demolition with a grand slam on a 3-1 pitch that cleared the right centerfield fence. The home team scored a fifth run in the initial inning when Michael Staudinger crossed the plate on a Nick Estrella ground out.
Fresno Pacific attempted rally with two runs in the second inning was all but moot by the bottom half of the frame. Tovalin added a three-run bomb to left field with a two-out shot on the first pitch he saw from Sunbird relief pitcher Zack Fleeman.
The game was put away in the fifth inning as Pablo O'Connor and Tovalin hit a pair of long balls. With one out O'Connor hit a three-run big fly then Tovalin nailed at a strong long ball to centerfield for two more runs. It is the first time since the 2015 season a Cougar hit three homeruns in a game when Danny Martin turned the trick against Cal State Monterey Bay.
O'Connor got a multi-home run game of his own with a two-run shot in the sixth inning. Quincy Quintero also scored during the inning on a catcher's throwing error.
Dillon Miyashiro was steady on the mound in earning the win. The righthander earned the complete game win by striking out five and scattering six hits in his 95-pitch effort. It is the first time the junior earned a complete game win.
