AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific rallied for an 11-9 win over Academy of Art on St. Patrick's Day, as Grant Gamble's two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the eighth broke a 9-9 tie and capped a five-run outburst to answer an Urban Knight five-spot in the top of the eighth. With the victory, the No. 1-ranked Cougars completed a four-game series sweep to improve to 24-2 overall and 14-2 in Pacific West Conference play.
Gamble had a 4-for-4, 4-RBI afternoon to lead the Cougar offense, which scored 11 runs on 14 hits including the decisive five-run eighth inning. Earlier in the inning, Austin Russ hit a two-run double to left-center, pulling Azusa Pacific within a run, 9-8, and Sean Aspinall tied the game with a one-out RBI triple to score Russ. A fielder's choice on a squeeze bunt cut down Aspinall at the plate for the second out, but Gamble delivered the game-winning hit with a double into right-center.
How It Happened: Academy of Art took its first lead of the series with a pair of runs in the top of the first, but the Cougars quickly tied the game with single runs in the first and second before taking a 4-2 lead in the third after Osvaldo Tovalin and Gamble each delivered run-scoring singles. Justin Gomez extended the lead to 5-2 with a sixth-inning solo home run, his team-high eighth home run this season.
Academy of Art drew three consecutive two-out walks to load the bases in the top of the seventh and cashed in for two runs on an infield single and a wild pitch that cut the margin to 5-4. Gamble provided a two-out RBI double in the bottom of the eighth to give the Cougars a 6-4 edge, but the Urban Knights produced five runs in the eighth to take a 9-6 lead. Azusa Pacific pitchers issued a pair of bases-loaded walks and hit another Art U batter with the bases loaded in the five-run frame.
Hayden Jorgenson worked out of the eighth-inning jam by inducing a pair of fly outs. After the offense provided a five-run jolt to get the lead back, Jorgenson loaded the bases with one out on a single and two walks. First baseman Joe Quire Jr. made a difficult catch at the fence in foul territory for the second out, and Jorgenson got a game-ending groundout to second base to complete the victory.
Inside The Box Score: Mychael Goudreau, Aspinall, and Tovalin each collected two hits, and Russ was 1-for-3 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.
Azusa Pacific issued 10 walks to Academy of Art hitters and gave Art U two additional baserunners by hitting two more batters with a pitch.
Cougar pitchers did, however, rack up 10 strikeouts, while Academy of Art pitchers finished with 3 strikeouts and 7 walks.
Pablo O'Connor was 1-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to a team-high 9 games. Dating back to last season, O'Connor has reached safely in 28 consecutive games.
Nick Estrella made his third pitching start of the season and tossed four scoreless innings after giving up a pair of runs in the first inning. He ended up allowing 2 runs on 3 hits with 5 strikeouts in 5 innings.
In this week's four-game series, Gamble batted .643 (9-for-14) and drove in a team-high 6 runs, while Goudreau batted .563 (9-for-16).
With eight home runs in this week's four-game series, Azusa Pacific leads all divisions of college baseball in home runs with 46. Seven different players have hit at least four home runs, and Gomez leads the way with eight after hitting three this weekend.
What's Next: Azusa Pacific hosts Holy Names in back-to-back doubleheaders next Friday and Saturday, March 23 and 24, which will take the Cougars to the halfway point of the 40-game PacWest schedule.
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