LA MIRADA, Calif. -- A 10-run explosion in the middle innings lifted Azusa Pacific to an 18-2 road win over Biola Friday afternoon, and a perfect extended relief performance from Spiro Valasakos allowed the Cougars to cruise to their second consecutive win in the four-game PacWest series.
The Cougar offense featured home runs from Sean Aspinall, Pablo O'Connor, and Grant Gamble, and Valasakos retired all 14 batters he faced after inheriting a bases-loaded, one-out situation from starting pitcher Layne Henderson in the bottom of the fifth inning.
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 36-6 overall and 26-6 in PacWest play, while Biola falls to 27-17 overall and 19-15 in the PacWest.
Osvaldo Tovalin led the 17-hit attack with a 4-for-6 afternoon, while Aspinall went 2-for-3 with four runs and O'Connor went 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Two of those runs came on O'Connor's 12th home run of the season, a two-run shot to left that extended the Cougars' lead to 14-2 during a five-run seventh inning against Biola reliever Dallas Burk.
How It Happened: Aspinall's second-inning solo home run produced the only scoring in the first three innings of the game, as Henderson registered three of his four strikeouts in the first three frames while finding a way to erase two of the three Eagles who reached base against him with a first-inning pickoff and a second-inning double play.
Four consecutive one-out singles got a four-run fourth inning started, and Joseph Quire Jr. made a diving catch of a bases-loaded liner up the middle to limit Biola to two runs in the fourth inning. Three of the first five Cougars in the top of the fifth were hit by pitch, sparking a six-run inning capped by consecutive two-run hits from Mychael Goudreau and Justin Gomez to extend the lead to 11-2.
After Biola loaded the bases against Henderson with one out in the fifth, Valasakos entered the game and struck out the next two hitters to prevent the Eagles from cutting into the lead. He struck out one more in the final four innings as he retired every batter he faced in the final 4.2 innings to claim the victory in his first collegiate pitching decision.
The Cougars used a pair of walks along with four more hits in the seventh to push five more runs across, including O'Connor's line-drive blast to left. Gamble hit a one-out solo home run to center field in the eighth inning for his sixth home run of the season, and Casey Dykstra's sacrifice fly in the ninth completed the scoring.
Inside The Box Score: Goudreau reached base safely in his 21st consecutive game, going 2-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs at the top of the lineup… In three games against Biola this season (including a February non-conference matchup), Gomez is batting .556 (5-for-9) while Tovalin is .375 (6-for-16) in the season series… The Cougar bullpen has claimed all three wins in the series so far while posting a combined 1.56 ERA in 17.1 relief innings against the Eagles.
What's Next: The four-game PacWest series concludes Saturday with a 12 p.m. doubleheader at Biola.
