SAN FRANCISCO -- Azusa Pacific paired its explosive offense with a strong first outing from starting pitcher Isaiah Carranza to kick off the 2018 campaign with a 7-3 win at San Francisco State Thursday afternoon.
While Carranza struck out six and surrendered two runs on eight hits in five innings of work, sophomore second baseman Nick Estrella jump-started the Cougar offense with a two-out grand slam in the top of the fifth inning. He drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh, starting a three-run frame, to finish the game with five RBIs.
Five different Cougars made their first appearance in a collegiate game, including three redshirt freshmen who each threw an inning in relief after Carranza. Layne Henderson tossed a scoreless ninth to finish off the win.
How It Happened: Carranza struck out three in the first inning and kept the game scoreless heading into the fifth, where SFSU starter Matthew Hernandez had two outs with nobody on base before junior catcher Justin Gomez and junior USC transfer Austin Russ drew two-out walks around Pablo O'Connor reaching base on a check-swinging strike three in the dirt that got past the catcher. After those three loaded the bases, Estrella drilled the first pitch he saw from Hernandez over the left field fence to give Azusa Pacific a 4-0 lead.
San Francisco State answered with two runs on three hits in the bottom of the fifth, cutting the lead in half, 4-2, and added a single run in the sixth before the Cougars put together another opportunistic frame with three runs on two hits and an error in the seventh to extend the lead to 7-3.
Inside The Box Score: Estrella drove in the Cougars' first five runs, starting with his two-out grand slam in the fifth inning before he added a bases-loaded walk to start a three-run seventh. He finished the game 1-for-4, while Gomez went 2-for-4 with a double and scored 2 runs. True freshman Osvaldo Tovalin went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
San Francisco State's offense was led by shortstop Jackson Kritsch, who went 5-for-5 with an RBI.
What's Next: Azusa Pacific continues the season-opening four-game series at San Francisco State with a Friday doubleheader which starts at 11 a.m. The series concludes Saturday with a single game at noon.
