AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific smashed five home runs, including a pair from West Region Player of the Year Cole Kleszcz, and the top-seeded Cougars clinched a spot in the NCAA Division II West Super Regionals with a 19-2 win over No. 5-seeded Cal Poly Pomona Saturday afternoon.

Kleszcz hit his 24th and 25th home runs to move into a tie as the national NCAA (all divisions) home run leader, part of a five-homer outburst from a Cougar offense which also leads all NCAA divisions (I, II, & III) in team home runs this year (97).

Kleszcz hit a solo home run with one out in the bottom of the second and added a grand slam in a nine-run sixth in a 3-for-5, 5-RBI performance. Justin Gomez went 4-for-4 and also homered in the nine-run sixth, extending his hitting streak to 19 games, and Joe Quire Jr. followed the two-run blast from Gomez with a solo shot to right on the very next pitch for the final run in the 19-2 victory.

Cal Poly Pomona got a pair of runs on three hits in the opening inning off sophomore righthander Declan Kearney, but he came back to post six consecutive scoreless, hitless frames while the Cougar offense built its huge lead.

With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 39-13 on the year, winning 28 of its past 32 games, while Cal Poly Pomona's improbable run to the postseason ends with the Broncos finishing 30-28 on the year.

What It Means: Azusa Pacific is the first of two teams to clinch a spot in the Division II West Super Regionals, and the Cougars will host next week's best-of-three series against either UC San Diego or Point Loma. The winner of next week's Super Regional will claim the West Region championship and the region's berth in the eight-team NCAA Division II World Series in Cary, North Carolina.

What's Next: As the No. 1--seed in the West Region, Azusa Pacific will host the best-of-three West Super Regional. The Cougars' opponent will either be UC San Diego or Point Loma, which forced a winner-take-all Game 5 against host UC San Diego in the West #2 Regional in La Jolla. The best-of-three series opener will be at 1 p.m. on Friday, May 24, with Game 2 and 3 (if necessary) scheduled at noon and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 25.

How It Happened: Drew Cowley delivered a two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded in the top of the first inning for Cal Poly Pomona, giving the Broncos an early 2-0 lead. However, Robles' three-run home run in the bottom of the first capped a four-run response that gave Kearney a 4-2 lead heading into his second inning.

Kearney erased a one-out walk in the second with a double-play strikeout and caught stealing to end the second inning, and he got out of trouble in the third after hitting two batters when Cowley lined out sharply to center. Cowley's lineout was the first of 10 consecutive batters retired by Kearney, who only allowed one baserunner in his final four innings of work.

Meanwhile, the Cougar offense kept the scoreboard busy, pushing runs across in five of the first six innings including two runs in the third on a Joseph Kim single into left-center that pushed the lead to 7-2. Mychael Goudreau capped a three-run fifth with a two-run single down the left field line, making it 10-2, and Kleszcz punished an 0-2 pitch left out over the plate with the bases loaded for a one-out grand slam to make it 16-2. Three batters later, Gomez and Quire went back-to-back to cap the nine-run inning and make it a 19-2 advantage with three innings left.

Spiro Valasakos and David Wylie each threw a shutout inning of relief to close out the win for the Cougars.

Inside The Box Score: Cole Kleszcz is tied for the Division II and NCAA all-divisions home run lead with 25… Justin Gomez tied Osvaldo Tovalin for the team's longest hitting streak of the season (19 games) when he singled into right in his first at-bat in the first inning… Gomez has now reached base safely in 30 straight games… In the Cougars' three regional games, Gomez batted a team-high .545 (6-for-11), one of eight players who batted .300 or better during the first weekend of postseason play… The Cougars notched a .991 fielding percentage over the three-game regional, posting back-to-back error-free games against Cal Poly Pomona.

Game 4 Press Conference (Head Coach Paul Svagdis with Tido Robles, Cole Kleszcz, Declan Kearney, Justin Gomez)