WAIPAHU, Hawai'i -- After three close games to start its Hawai'i road trip, Azusa Pacific's offense hit its stride in an 18-4, 13-0 doubleheader sweep over Hawai'i Pacific Saturday afternoon at Hans L'Orange Park.
The NCAA Division II's top-ranked Cougars never trailed in either game and got things going offensively with a seven-run second inning in the opener. Twelve batters came to the plate in the inning, and Mychael Goudreau provided most of the damage with a bases-clearing triple, and he added a two-run triple in a five-run eighth inning of Azusa Pacific's season-high 18-run outburst in the opener.
In the seven-inning nightcap of the doubleheader, the Cougars scored a pair in the first inning and added four more in the second with Osvaldo Tovalin lifting the offense with a three-run home run to straightaway center field. Tovalin hit a home run in each game as he went 4-for-8 with 5 RBIs on the day to help lead the offense to 31 runs on 32 hits in 16 innings of action.
Layne Henderson fired six shutout innings, scattering just two hits with nine strikeouts to pick up the win in the second game. His performance followed Tripp Aversa's lengthy relief appearance in the opener, as Aversa tossed 5.1 innings of shutout relief, scattering a pair of hits with three strikeouts to pick up the victory.
With the sweep, Azusa Pacific improves to 32-3 overall and 22-3 in Pacific West Conference play, as the Cougars have won the first five games of its six-game Hawai'i road trip. Hawai'i Pacific falls to 16-19 overall, 10-17 PacWest.
How It Happened (Game 1): A seven-run second inning gave Azusa Pacific a commanding early margin, but Hawai'i Pacific responded with four runs off starting pitcher Isaiah Carranza in the third inning. With two outs in the third, Aversa entered the game with the bases loaded and picked off the runner at second base to end the inning, and he added five more innings of shutout relief before the Cougars got rolling again with a six-run seventh and a five-run eighth inning.
Azusa Pacific scored its first run of the second inning before registering its first hit of the game, as Tovalin was hit by pitch to lead off the second before three consecutive walks pushed Tovalin across for the first run. Goudreau ripped a bases-clearing triple down the right-field line, and he scored on a Justin Gomez sacrifice fly to make it 5-0. Pablo O'Connor followed with a double, and Sean Aspinall and Steven Garrett delivered RBI singles to extend the lead to 7-0.
Tovalin led off the seventh with a solo home run to right field, snapping the Cougars' run of four consecutive scoreless innings, and Goudreau highlighted the five-run eighth inning with a two-run triple to left field. Tim Lichty went 3-for-3 to lead the offense, while Joe Quire Jr., Goudreau, Gomez, and O'Connor all registered two hits each in the game. David May finished off the game on the mound with a scoreless ninth inning.
How It Happened (Game 2): Azusa Pacific picked up where it left off in the opener to start the second game, with Aspinall and Austin Russ hitting back-to-back RBI singles in the first inning to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead. Tovalin smacked a three-run home run to straightaway center in a four-run second inning to extend the lead to 6-0, and a Goudreau sacrifice fly in the third made it a 7-0 margin for Henderson to protect.
Henderson struck out two batters in four consecutive innings (third through sixth) to finish off six shutout innings for the victory, and Grant Gamble drove in the first of six runs in the seventh inning with an RBI single to right field. The Cougars registered seven hits in the inning, extending the lead to 13-0 before Hayden Jorgenson tossed a perfect seventh inning to finish off the win.
Inside The Box Score: Aspinall was 4-for-11 on the day and hit safely in both games to extend his hitting streak to 15 games… Seven different players collected at least three hits on the day, with four of them registering four hits… Three of Goudreau's four hits went for extra bases, and his eight-RBI afternoon pushed his season RBI total from 17 to 25… Eight players are batting .300 or higher on the Hawai'i road trip, with Russ leading the way at .545 (6-for-11) through five games on the islands… The Cougar bullpen has held the offenses of Hawai'i Hilo and Hawai'i Pacific to a combined .132 batting average, allowing just nine hits with seven walks and 20 strikeouts in 20.1 innings thrown by relief pitchers.
What's Next: Azusa Pacific wraps up its four-game series at Hawai'i Pacific Monday night at 6:00 p.m., returning home to take on a surging California Baptist for four games at home beginning Thursday, April 19.
