SAN FRANCISCO – A record tying and series clinching win.

The ninth-ranked Cougars posted a 12-2 victory against Academy of Art on Saturday to claim the four-game series and place themselves among some of the program's best teams.

In improving their record to 26-4 overall, they matched the 2001 and 2007 teams for the best 30-game start in program history. Azusa Pacific is in first place in the PacWest with a 13-3 league mark.

A host of players had multi-hit games led by Justin Gomez and Cam Bennett. Each player had three base knocks as Gomez drove-in four while Bennett touched the plate three times. Pablo O'Connor, Adrian Tovalin and Nick Estrella all tallied two-hit efforts.

The Cougars jumped on Academy of Art starter Mason Verhees in the second inning for five runs on three hits as the big blows came from Bennett (two-run double) and Gomez (three-run homerun). Academy of Art rallied with a pair of runs in their portion of the frame.

In the third inning momentum really swung in the Cougars favor. After scoring a run on a Bennett RBI single, Azusa Pacific had to dip into their bullpen. Layne Henderson was outstanding in relief. He entered in the third inning with the bases loaded with one-out and proceeded to strand the bases. The righthander ended up going 5.2 innings were he gave-up just one hit and struck out seven while upping his record to 3-0.

Azusa Pacific piled on five more runs in the fifth inning to all but secure the win. They pieced together those runs on four hits while taking advantage of an Urban Knights error. Tovalin's 13th homerun of the season, a two-run shot, highlighted the inning. In the seventh stanza O'Connor singled home Bennett to round out the scoring.

The Cougars return home for a four-game set against Hawaii Pacific beginning Thursday.