AZUSA, Calif. -- The Azusa Pacific offense produced 16 runs in a 6-0, 10-5 doubleheader sweep over Dominican, opening the four-game weekend series between the teams with a pair of victories that pushed the Cougars ahead of the Penguins in a battle for fourth place in the Pacific West Conference standings.

Nicki Sprague, the PacWest RBI leader, drove in five more runs while going 3-for-5 in the sweep, and Illiana Jimenez had two hits in each game to extend her hitting streak to 13 games, the longest of any Azusa Pacific hitter this year.

With the sweep, the Cougars improve to 24-16 overall and 15-7 in PacWest play, surging ahead of Dominican into fourth place in the conference standings. Dominican fell to 18-22 overall, 15-9 PacWest, and on Saturday the teams will play the second doubleheader of their four-game series.

Carly Xepoleas tossed a complete-game shutout in the opening game victory, and Kat Ung fired five innings of shutout relief in the second game to pick up the win.

GAME 1: Azusa Pacific 6, Dominican 0

Xepoleas scattered seven hits and struck out four without issuing a walk, earning her seventh complete game and third shutout of the season. Xepoleas retired 11 of the final 14 Dominican hitters to preserve the shutout.

Sprague hit a two-run double in the third inning to break a scoreless tie, knocking a 2-0 pitch over the left fielder to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead. An inning later, Azusa Pacific added an insurance run on a wild pitch before a three-run sixth finished off the win.

Jimenez went 2-for-4 from the leadoff spot in the batting order, and Cayla Broussard and Jenna Gorman added two-hit performances to lead the offense.

GAME 2: Azusa Pacific 10, Dominican 5

The Cougars answered both of Dominican's scoring innings with a vengeance, responding to a single run in the first with a four-run outburst before adding six more in the third inning to regain the lead after the Penguins scored four in the top half of the frame. Five different players collected two hits each for Azusa Pacific, and Sprague was one of three players with three RBIs in the victory.

Sprague drove in the Cougars' first two runs with a surprise bunt single to shortstop, which brought two runs around to score and give Azusa Pacific a 2-1 lead. Gorman hit a one-out double to left-center to score Sprague and make it a 3-1 lead, and Ariana von Zboray drilled a two-out double to extend the lead to 4-1.

Dominican rallied for four runs in the third inning, but von Zboray pushed the Cougars in front for good, starting a six-run third with her first collegiate home run, a two-run shot down the left-field line that gave Azusa Pacific a 6-5 lead. Sprague brought in another run, making it 7-5 when she was hit by pitch with the bases loaded, and Kayla Jimenez followed by drawing a walk to extend the lead to 8-5. When Gorman came around to bat for the second time in the inning, she hit a two-run single down the left field line to wrap up the six-run third and give the Cougars a 10-5 lead.

Neither team scored again over the final four innings, as Ung fired five innings of shutout relief with five strikeouts to pick up the win. She surrendered just two hits and a walk in her five innings of work, improving to 6-4 on the year while improving to the PacWest's third-best ERA (1.50).