FRESNO, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific claimed its third consecutive Pacific West Conference baseball championship with a 13-0, 5-2 doubleheader sweep at Fresno Pacific Friday afternoon, claiming the conference crown with five games left in the regular season.

The Cougars' sweep, combined with Point Loma's Friday loss to Hawai'i Hilo in the opener of a doubleheader split, secured the PacWest title for Azusa Pacific, which has won 14 conference baseball championships all-time. In seven years of PacWest membership, the Cougars have claimed 24 conference titles across all sports.

Azusa Pacific's first two titles came down to the final day of the regular season, but the Cougars locked up the championship with five games left. The last time the PacWest baseball title was wrapped up this early was 2012, which was the year before Azusa Pacific joined the league.

Senior catcher Justin Gomez led the offense, reaching safely in eight of his 10 plate appearances and batting 5-for-7 to lead the offense to an 18 runs on 24 hits over Friday's 16 innings of action. Junior righthander Nick Estrella fired eight shutout innings to start the 13-0 opening-game win, and Declan Kearney earned the victory in the seven-inning nightcap.

With Friday's sweep, Azusa Pacific is now 33-11 overall, winner of 22 of its past 24 games, and 23-4 in PacWest play.

What's Next: The Cougars wrap up the four-game series at Fresno Pacific on Saturday at 12 p.m. The regular season concludes with a four-game series against Point Loma.

How It Happened (Game 1): Estrella struck out five and walked only one Fresno Pacific batter in eight shutout frames, keeping the Sunbirds off the scoreboard despite having baserunners in each of the first seven innings. Estrella wrapped up his outing with a one-two-three eighth, and Gabe Ramos struck out three in a row to end the game after surrendering a leadoff single in the ninth.

Joseph Kim's RBI single to left in the top of the third inning opened up the scoring, and the Cougars added to the early lead with solo home runs from Casey Dykstra in the fourth inning and Cole Kleszcz in the sixth. Kleszcz' home run, his PacWest-leading 19th of the season, sparked a four-run sixth to extend the lead to 7-0, and Osvaldo Tovalin highlighted a six-run eighth inning with a bases-clearing double.

Tovalin and Joe Quire Jr. each drove in three runs in the 13-0 victory, and five players registered two hits in the game.

How It Happened (Game 2): For the second straight game, Azusa Pacific broke a scoreless tie in the third inning, as Quire Jr. deposited a two-out RBI single to left field, scoring Tovalin for a 1-0 lead. Gomez added a one-out RBI double in the fifth, and he scored on Kim's two-out single to make it a 3-0 game in the fifth inning.

After Jared Aguilar pulled Fresno Pacific within a run in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run home run to center, Tovalin and Gomez each drove in insurance runs to push the lead back to 5-2. Declan Kearney threw five shutout frames before Aguilar's sixth-inning home run, and Tripp Aversa finished off his fifth save of the year by recording the final four outs of the game.

Tovalin went 2-for-4 and scored three times, and Gomez was 4-for-4 with a pair of RBIs to pace the Cougar offense.

Inside The Box Score: Kleszcz ranks fourth in Division II in home runs (19), including eight home runs on the road… Tovalin hit safely in both games of Friday's doubleheader and with two hits in the nightcap now has 21 multi-hit games… The Cougars are 22-2 since an extra-inning defeat to Point Loma on March 9… Azusa Pacific is 25-3 when scoring first this season.