AZUSA, Calif. -- A series split between defending conference champions seemed about right in a competitive season-opening doubleheader for No. 8-ranked Azusa Pacific and Cal State Monterey Bay, which both claimed regular-season conference titles and claimed the top two seeds in last year's NCAA Division II West Region playoffs.
Defending California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) regular-season champion Cal State Monterey Bay picked up a 6-3 win in the opener of Friday's twinbill before two-time defending Pacific West Conference Champion Azusa Pacific returned the favor with a 6-4 win in the nightcap. The teams were slated to play three games but Saturday's series finale was cancelled due to heavy rain in the forecast.
The teams combined for eight home runs on the opening day of the 2019 campaign, as Joe Quire Jr. homered in both games to provide two of the Cougars' five longballs. Mychael Goudreau led off the season with a leadoff solo shot in his first at-bat of the opener, and junior outfielder Cole Kleszcz also had a solo home run in the first game.
Quire hit a sixth-inning grand slam in the nightcap to put the Cougars in front, 4-2, and Joseph Kim broke a 2-2 tie with a two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth to lift Azusa Pacific to the 6-4 victory.
How It Happened (Game 1): Cal State Monterey Bay never trailed, turning T.J. Dove's leadoff single and a Kyle Czaplak walk into the game's first run in the top of the first inning before Goudreau tied things up with a home run down the right field line to lead off the bottom of the first. The Otters got back on the board with a two-run fourth inning on Jake Davidson's one-out, two-run home run.
Solo home runs in the fifth (Kleszcz) and sixth (Quire) pulled the teams even after six frames, but the Otters took advantage of a catcher's interference on what would have been a swinging strikeout to load the bases for a run-scoring fielder's choice in the top of the seventh. Czaplak led off the ninth with a solo home run, and Cal State Monterey Bay added another later in the ninth for the final 6-3 margin.
Greg Steinbeck tossed three perfect frames of relief to pick up the win for he Otters, who had four players register two hits each in the season opener.
How It Happened (Game 2): Both starters were outstanding in brief appearances, as Daniel Harris fired three scoreless to start the game against the Azusa Pacific lineup while James Acuña delivered four shutout frames with five strikeouts for the Cougars. The game remained scoreless until the sixth inning, when Kyle Dean hit a two-out, two-run home run for the Otters to take a 2-0 lead.
The Cougars wasted no time answering against CSUMB reliever Michael Scolaro, who hit two of the first three batters he faced and gave up a single to Kleszcz to load the bases for Quire with no outs. Quire drilled a 2-1 pitch to right-center, clearing the bases with a grand slam that gave Azusa Pacific its first lead of the day.
Two innings later, Cal State Monterey Bay pulled even at 4-4 after Dean hit a leadoff single which was followed by a double from Brian Morley. The next two batters each produced run-scoring groundouts to tie the game at 4-4. In the bottom of the eighth, Goudreau blooped a one-out single into right-center, and Joseph Kim lined a 1-0 pitch from Tyson Quolas over the fence in right field for the game-winning two-run shot.
Sophomore lefthander Tayton Smith, who retired the last two batters of the eighth inning, remained in the game for the ninth, and he picked up the win by recording the final three outs around a one-out infield single in the ninth.
Inside The Box Score: Goudreau finished last year with a 31-game streak of reaching base safely, and he did so in both games Friday to extend his streak to 33… He finished the day 3-for-8 with a double and home run, joining Quire as the only Cougars with two extra-base hits on the day… Jake Davidson's home run in the opener is the only home run allowed by junior righthander Nick Estrella in his collegiate pitching career (57.1 career innings)… Kyle Dean stole two bases in the first game, but the Otters were 0-for-2 on steals in the nightcap, with senior catcher Justin Gomez throwing out Dean for the third out in the top of the fourth of Game 2 before T.J. Dove was picked off and thrown out at second in the sixth… Cougar pitchers averaged one strikeout per inning, with Acuña and Woodall each leading the way with five strikeouts apiece.
What's Next: Another CCAA foe awaits the Cougars next week in Turlock, as a three-game road series at Stanislaus State is up next on the Azusa Pacific schedule. The series kicks off with a Friday doubleheader and concludes Saturday, Feb. 9, with a single game at noon.
Quotable: "It's great to play great teams because it gives you a great idea where you're at. I thought both teams played pretty well today, and even though there are some things we need to do to get a lot better, it was two good teams playing pretty clean games. It's fun to watch baseball when you're putting the ball in play and pitchers are making tough pitches." -- Head coach Paul Svagdis
"Smitty impressed the heck out of me. He had a great fall, and he's put a lot of hard work in to get there. I have confidence in him as a pitcher, which is why I let him run out there in the ninth. Joe Kim is a good hitter, and he's a guy who has also put in a lot of work and put his head down to do the work to develop his swing, so I was really happy to see him rip that ball to put us ahead." -- Svagdis
"I worked hard in the fall to try to be ready for this situation. I knew that if I did well with my opportunity, I would get a chance to keep running out there. I was really happy that he trusted in me in that situation. There was a lot of activity in the bullpen heading into the ninth, so I just had my head down and put my hood on just hoping I'd get a shot to go out in the ninth, and I tried to make the most of it." -- sophomore pitcher Tayton Smith
"It was good to see a lot of young guys out there contributing and competing. We had a rough start and got a little off our process, but we stayed patient and got back to it. Coach put together a great game plan for us, and I was just able to swing at something elevated and hit it. We had great learning points in the first game, and it was really a gut check for us to see what type of team we're going to be this year. To bounce back the way we did shows that we have some depth that should allow us to compete all year." -- senior second baseman Joe Quire Jr.
