AZUSA, Calif. -- An early home run from Kayla Jimenez set the tone for Azusa Pacific's dominant doubleheader sweep over Dominican Saturday afternoon, finishing off a four-game sweep of the weekend series to catapult the Cougars into the top-three of the Pacific West Conference standings with eight games left on the schedule.

Jimenez crushed an 0-1 pitch to right-center, where it bounced halfway up the light pole beyond the outfield fence for a three-run shot with one out in the opening frame. The blast was all the offense Azusa Pacific needed, as Kat Ung fired a two-hit shutout in the 3-0 opening game win. The Cougars jumped out to another early lead in Game 2, scoring twice in the first inning before cruising to a 5-1 win.

Azusa Pacific, which entered the weekend a game behind Dominican for fourth place in the PacWest standings, improved to 26-16 overall and 17-7 in conference play to get ahead of both Dominican and Concordia in the PacWest standings. Dominican is now 18-24 overall and 15-11 in PacWest play.

The Cougars now sit in third place heading into next week's clash at PacWest-leading California Baptist, which has won 20 consecutive games since Azusa Pacific handed the Lancers their only two conference losses in a Feb. 28 doubleheader sweep in Azusa.

GAME 1: Azusa Pacific 3, Dominican 0

Jimenez hit her fifth home run of the season to provide Azusa Pacific with an early three-run lead, and Ung took advantage of the cushion she was provided the rest of the way. The only two Dominican batters to reach second base did so with two outs, and Ung retired 14 of the final 16 batters to complete the two-hit shutout.

Ung's shutout was her team-high fourth of the season, and it was her second two-hit complete-game shutout of the year. She finished with four strikeouts and brought her team-leading ERA down to 1.35 with the performance.

Cayla Broussard was 2-for-3 in the opener with her second double of the season, as Azusa Pacific was limited to five hits in the game by Penguins starter Katelyn Harden. The Cougars' best chance to increase the lead came in the second inning when Azusa Pacific loaded the bases with one out. However, a fielder's choice resulted in a force out at home for the second out before Harden got Nicki Sprague to fly out to end the threat.

GAME 2: Azusa Pacific 5, Dominican 1

Jimenez registered two more hits in the nightcap to help lead the Cougars to a 5-1 win, as Megan Mejia took a three-hit shutout into the seventh inning and posted the complete-game five-hitter.

Jimenez was 2-for-3 with a double, and Ariana von Zboray went 3-for-3 with 2 RBIs at the plate to help the Cougars add a run in the third and two runs in the fifth. Von Zboray and Jimenez had the game's only extra-base hits.

In the bottom of the third, Sprague drew a leadoff walk, which eventually turned into a two-out run after consecutive fielder's choice groundouts and an Erinn Jaramillo base hit which kept the rally going for von Zboray's RBI single up the middle which made it a 3-0 game. The Cougars made it 5-0 when an error helped set up another run-scoring opportunity for von Zboray, who delivered a one-out RBI double off the base of the outfield fence in left-center.

Dominican scored its only run of the game in the seventh, capitalizing on an error to score its only run of the day and end a 17-inning scoreless drought.