AZUSA, Calif. -- With Azusa Pacific's offense held mostly in check by Concordia Wednesday afternoon, the Cougars rallied from a 5-1 opening-game defeat with a 1-0 win on Ariana von Zboray's four-hit shutout to pick up the doubleheader split.

In just her fourth pitching start of the season, von Zboray dealt a masterpiece, holding Concordia to just four hits while notching six strikeouts to post her first shutout of the season. After giving up a hit in each of the first three innings of the game, von Zboray settled in and retired 14 of the final 16 Eagles hitters to finish the game.

"I thought Ariana's mentality as a senior would help her bear down and accept the challenge," Azusa Pacific head coach Carrie Webber said of her decision to start von Zboray. "She really responded to the challenge by working ahead and hitting her spots, and it was fun to watch her throw with pure determination and without fear."

Concordia won the first game, 5-1, breaking a scoreless tie with a run in the fourth inning before taking the lead for good with a pair of runs in the fifth after Erinn Jaramillo tied the game with a fourth-inning solo home run.

With the split, Azusa Pacific remains a game behind Concordia in the Pacific West Conference standings with a 21-12 overall and 13-7 PacWest record, while Concordia is now 25-10-2 overall and 13-5 in conference play. The Cougars take on five non-conference foes at this weekend's Tournament of Champions in Turlock before resuming PacWest play with a four-game series at home against Dominican (April 7-8).

GAME 1: Concordia 5, Azusa Pacific 1

After three scoreless innings, both teams got on the board in the fourth inning, as Jaramillo answered the Concordia run with a solo home run down the left-field line to tie the game at 1-1. However, Concordia added two more in the fifth plus single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to extend the lead into the late innings. The Cougars threatened in the seventh, putting runners at first and second with one out, but Concordia escaped damage with a game-ending lineout double play.

Illiana Jimenez registered two singles from the leadoff spot, going 2-for-4 with her 24th stolen base of the year. Jaramillo was responsible for the lone Cougar run with her fourth home run of the season.

Concordia was led offensively by Nicole Chavez, who was 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs, including a 2-out single that scored the game's first run in the top of the fourth inning. She added an RBI single in the seventh to extend the lead to 5-1. Eagles starting pitcher Grayson Harvey scattered seven hits while giving up just one run on Jaramillo's blast, and she tallied eight strikeouts and walked two.

GAME 2: Azusa Pacific 1, Concordia 0

While von Zboray recorded the win, improving to 5-4 on the year while tossing a four-hit shutout, her pitching performance was nearly matched inning-for-inning by Concordia starter BethAnn McCann, who took a shutout into the sixth inning. That's when the top of the lineup produced all the damage it needed, starting with leadoff hitter Illiana Jimenez reaching after being hit by pitch with the first offering of the inning.

Cayla Broussard laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Jimenez to second, and Nicki Sprague was intentionally walked to bring up cleanup hitter Kayla Jimenez, who slapped a full-count offering from McCann back up the middle to drive in Illiana Jimenez, who avoided the tag as she slid through home plate to score the game's only run.

Ariana von Zboray escaped a threatening situation in the third inning after she issued a leadoff walk to the No. 9 hitter and surrendered a leadoff double to leadoff hitter Ryann Ferguson to put runners on second and third with no outs. However, she registered the first out by striking out McKinsey Thorpe, and an errant pickoff throw into left field led to a rundown between second and third which resulted in the second out. Von Zboray finished off the inning by getting a routine groundout to shortstop to keep the game scoreless.

She also issued a leadoff walk in the seventh, but after a sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second, von Zboray took care of the defensive work to finish off the game, catching a lineout up the middle and finishing off the win with a groundout back to the pitcher.