TURLOCK, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific struck first in both ends of Friday's road-opening doubleheader, picking up a 7-4, 8-4 doubleheader sweep over Stanislaus State.

Leadoff-hitting catcher Justin Gomez led the Cougar offense with five hits on the day, and Osvaldo Tovalin and Griffen Herrera collected four hits each.

Herrera provided the decisive run in the opener, breaking a 4-4 tie with a solo home run to left in the sixth inning, and Cole Kleszcz smashed a three-run to push the Cougars out to a 6-0 lead after the first two innings of the nightcap.

With the sweep, Azusa Pacific improves to 3-1 on the season, while Stanislaus State drops to 2-2 overall.

How It Happened (Game 1): Stanislaus State threatened in each of the first two frames, but junior righthander James Acuña worked out of trouble in both frames, including a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the second. After Stanislaus State loaded the bases with no outs, Acuña registered back-to-back strikeouts before inducing a popup to shallow right field to end the inning.

The Cougars responded by scoring two runs in the third and two more in the fourth, as Herrera led off the third with a double down the left-field line and scored on a Gomez single to left. Gomez later scored on a groundout, and two more came across in the third when Casey Dykstra's infield single in the middle of the infield turned into more damage on a throwing error to first on the play.

Stanislaus State cut the lead to 4-3 with a three-run fourth, and Michael Wyatt's two-out RBI single tied up the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Herrera answered with a solo home run to left with one out in the sixth, and the Cougar bullpen shut down the Warriors the rest of the way. Freshman Joey Acosta fired a scoreless sixth, and Declan Kearney finished the game with three hitless frames to pick up the save. Kearney struck out the side in the seventh and finished with four strikeouts, allowing just one baserunner on a ninth-inning walk.

Gomez was 3-for-5, and Tovalin and Kleszcz both went 2-for-4 to lead the offense in the victory.

How It Happened (Game 2): While the Cougars pounced for six runs in the first two frames and made it 7-0 with another run in the fourth inning, junior righthander Nick Estrella took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. Estrella retired the first five Warriors he faced, and picked off a baserunner after issuing a two-out walk in the second. He retired seven of the next eight, although Stanislaus plated a run without recording a hit in the fourth inning.

Grant Bunker spoiled the no-hit bid in the fifth inning with a one-out solo home run down the left field line, and Estrella retired the side in order in the sixth before turning a 7-2 lead over to the bullpen. Stanislaus State scored an unearned run in the seventh inning and added another run in the bottom of the ninth. The Cougars scored their final run in the eighth inning, sparked again by a leadoff double from Herrera, who scored on a one-out Tovalin single.

Estrella picked up the win, allowing two runs on just one hit and three walks with three strikeouts. Gomez, Tovalin, and Herrera again led the offense with two hits apiece.

Inside The Box Score: Three Cougars have hit safely in all four games this season (Tovalin, Kleszcz, and Mychael Goudreau)… Goudreau has reached base safely in 35 consecutive games dating back to the final 31 games of the 2018 campaign… The Cougars' starting pitchers (Acuña and Estrella) are holding opposing hitters to a combined .203 batting average… Herrera became the fifth Cougar hitter to hit a home run through the first four games of the season… Azusa Pacific hitters drew eight walks on the day after drawing just two walks in last week's doubleheader against defending CCAA regular-season champion Cal State Monterey Bay.

What's Next: The Cougars wrap up the three-game series with a single game on Saturday, which is scheduled to start at noon.