AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific won the opening game of a four-game Pacific West Conference series against Hawai'i Hilo by a score of 10-2 Thursday evening. The Cougars improved to 17-9 on the season and 7-2 in the PacWest, and the series continues tomorrow with a single game at 3:00 p.m.
How It Happened: A.J. Woodall got into early trouble in the first inning when Hawai'i Hilo got a pair of runners on base who moved into scoring position at second and third with one out when Woodall was called for a balk. He got a groundout to short that scored a run but registered a strikeout to end the inning. In the bottom of the first, leadoff hitter Cole Kleszcz hit a solo home run to left-center field to tie the game at 1-1. The Vulcans regained the lead in the top of the second by plating an unearned run on Dylan Sugimoto's two-out single to take a 2-1 lead.
The Cougars struck back in the third inning, scoring two runs to gain their first lead of the game, and they kept the lead for the remainder of the game. A leadoff solo home run from Justin Gomez tied the game at 2-2, and Jaxon Hammond scored the go-ahead run on a double play groundout with the bases loaded and nobody out.
In Woodall's sixth and final inning of work, he worked out of a first-and-third situation with one out. Mikey Rita's attempted squeeze bunt went right back to Woodall, who caught Kamalu Neal halfway between third and home for the second out of the inning before getting a fly out to end the inning. Woodall pitched four straight scoreless innings to close out his fifth win of the season.
The Cougars broke it open in the sixth inning, tying a season-high with seven runs in the inning. Will Stroud and Mychael Goudreau opened up the inning with consecutive singles, and Tido Robles walked to load the bases before Justin Gomez singled through the left side to score the first run of the inning. Joseph Kim then followed with a two-run double off the wall in left field, and Osvaldo Tovalin was intentionally walked with one out to load the bases. Griffen Herrera responded with a two-run double to left-center field that scored Gomez and Kim, and Tovalin scored from third on a wild pitch to make it 9-2. Herrera scored on Joe Quire Jr.'s sacrifice fly to deep center for the final run of the seven-run sixth inning.
The Cougar bullpen shut down the Vulcans the rest of the way. Tripp Aversa continued his dominance out of the bullpen, pitching first out of the bullpen for a scoreless seventh inning with one strikeout. John Szczesny fired a scoreless eighth inning , giving up one hit with one strikeout, and Ricky Rivera came on in the ninth to finish the game with another scoreless frame to cap off the 10-2 victory.
Cougars vs. Cancer: Azusa Pacific partnered with the Vs. Cancer Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and Friends of Jaclyn Foundation to raise funds for the Vs. Cancer Foundation. Performing an electric-guitar instrumental rendition of the national anthem was cancer survivor Joseph Moore, who became involved with Azusa Pacific Baseball in 2009 early in his battle with cancer. As part of the event, Azusa Pacific Baseball also participated in the Vs. Cancer fundraising campaign of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. By the end of the night, the Cougars had raised a total of $2,937, which exceeded the team's fundraising goal of $2,500 and put Azusa Pacific into the top-10 in total dollars raised by the 45 college baseball teams participating in the program. Donations are still being accepted at: athletics.apu.edu/baseballvscancer
Inside the Boxscore: Through its first 20 games this season, Azusa Pacific was 11-9, bur the Cougars have since won six straight… During the current win streak, the Cougars are batting .335 as a team, with leadoff hitter Cole Kleszcz and No. 2 hitter Osvaldo Tovalin batting a combined .524 (22-for-42) over the six-game stretch... The pitching staff has only surrendered 14 runs (11 earned) during the win streak, posting a team ERA of 1.98 over the past six games… Aversa has given up just one run in 14.2 innings across eight appearances so far this season, tossing 13 consecutive scoreless innings over his last six outings.
