ST. GEORGE, Utah -- Azusa Pacific's offense erupted for 21 runs on 26 hits in a 13-7, 8-2 doubleheader sweep at Dixie State Thursday, extending the Cougars' program-record season-opening win streak to 16 games while starting the four-game PacWest series with a pair of victories.

The Cougars hit three home runs in each game, and Austin Russ led the way with a three-run home run in each game.

Isaiah Carranza earned the victory in the opener, striking out five in six innings of work to improve to 5-0, while Tripp Aversa closed out the game with two strikeouts in three innings to pick up his third save of the season. Dillon Miyashiro fired a seven-inning complete game in the nightcap, striking out seven to improve to 4-0 on the year.

What's Next: The four-game series continues Friday with a single game at 4:00 p.m. (MST), and the series finale is scheduled for Saturday at noon (MST).

How It Happened (Game 1): Azusa Pacific sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning, starting with consecutive singles from Mychael Goudreau and Justin Gomez before Pablo O'Connor smashed a three-run home run in his first at-bat after missing last week's series against Concordia. Later in the first, with two runners on base and two outs, the Cougars pushed across three more runs on three consecutive run-scoring singles from Steven Garrett, Grant Gamble, and Goudreau to give Carranza a starting lead of 6-0.

After three scoreless frames, Azusa Pacific added three more in the fifth on a Tim Lichty home run which extended the lead to 9-0. Dixie State pulled within 9-5 after scoring an unearned run in the fifth followed by a four-run sixth, but the Cougars answered with a four-run eighth highlighted by a three-run home run from Russ.

How It Happened (Game 2): The Cougars scored in four consecutive innings from the second inning on, building an 8-0 lead before Dixie State scored its only runs in the bottom of the fifth. Russ hit a three-run home run to cap a five-run third inning, and Gomez and Gamble added solo home runs in the fourth and fifth innings. O'Connor, Sean Aspinall, and Osvaldo Tovalin all went 2-for-4, and Russ was 2-for-2 with a double, home run, and a pair of walks as he raised his season batting average to .379.

After surrendering a leadoff single, Miyashiro got the next batter to ground into a double play, and he didn't allow another hit until the fifth inning. The Trailblazers loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth with three consecutive singles, but Miyashiro limited the damage by getting another double-play ball to shortstop. The double play scored one, and Dixie plated another on a wild pitch before Miyashiro ended the inning with his fourth strikeout of the game.

Inside The Box Score: Russ and Goudreau paced the offense in the opener with three hits each, while four different players registered a pair of hits in the seven-inning nightcap… Gomez has reached base safely in all 16 games this season… As a team, Azusa Pacific now has 30 home runs on the year, while Cougar pitchers have surrendered 11… In PacWest play (6 games), the home run margin is 13-3.