HONOLULU, Hawai'i -- Azusa Pacific baseball secured its first PacWest conference victory taking down Hawai'i Pacific by way of a ninth inning offensive explosion that saw the Cougars score seven runs securing the win 12-5. The Cougars have now won three of their last four scoring more than 11 runs in each of the three wins. 

How it Happened: 
The Cougars sprinted out of the gate with vengeance in mind, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning. Three walks loaded the bases before junior Joseph Kim stepped to the plate with two outs and singled in two runs before the third came around to score from first on an error on the play. Cougars up 3-0 early.

Senior pitcher Joe Wills started on the hill for the Cougars. Coming into the game, Wills had thrown 9.2 scoreless innings across two relief appearances and one start for the Cougars. Wills tossed two more scoreless frames to start but finally did concede a run in the third inning. Wills escaped that inning though as he left three runners stranded on base to maintain the Cougars 3-1 lead.

Both team's bullpens held the other team scoreless during the middle innings before the Sharks attacked in the seventh. Senior relief pitcher Tripp Aversa pitched two scoreless innings before running into trouble in his third inning. After retiring the first batter of the inning for his third strikeout of the outing, Aversa allowed three straight hits that tied up the game 3-3. Junior Declan Kearney then relieved Aversa inheriting a runner in scoring position with one out. A single up the middle given up to the first batter Kearney faced would give HPU the lead for the first time in the game 4-3. But, Kearney responded by inducing a flyout before getting a strike out to end the inning.

In the next half inning, Azusa Pacific was able to take advantage of two costly errors from the Sharks. A leadoff single from junior Osvaldo Tovalin got things started before Kim reached on an error. With runners on the corners and two outs, redshirt sophomore Brett Soria singled to center field scoring Tovalin from third and Kim scored again from first courtesy of another HPU error. With the clutch two-out hit, the Cougars took the lead back at 5-4.

After Hawai'i Pacific tied the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Cougars exploded for seven runs in the top of the final frame to secure the win. The Cougars used bunting to their advantage twice towards the start of the inning. After a leadoff walk, Casey Dykstra and Max Tsai both singled on bunts to load the bases. The heart of the order then did some damage as Tovalin walked in a run to take the lead before Nick Estrella doubled in two runs to increasing the lead to 8-5 in favor of Azusa Pacific. Later in the inning, Soria picked up his third RBI of the game by way of a bases loaded walk before junior Travis Aversa singled in two more runs to put the Cougars up 11-5. Dykstra capped off the inning with a sacrifice fly driving in the final run of the inning and game. 

Azusa Pacific and Hawai'i Pacific will face off in a doubleheader on Saturday, February 29 starting at 1 p.m. (HST) to decide the series. The second game will begin around 4 p.m. (HST).