AZUSA, Calif. — Azusa Pacific split Saturday's doubleheader with Westmont College, after dropping the first game 10-9 in extra innings, the Cougars responded with a 7-0 win in the seven-inning nightcap.

How it Happened (Game 1): Starting pitcher Brendan Dixon allowed back-to-back solo home runs in the first inning before he responded with two scoreless frames and four strikeouts to keep the Cougars down by two.

Azusa Pacific took advantage of two Westmont errors in the bottom of the third to tie the game at two-apiece. The Warriors added four more in the fourth, plating two on their third home run of the game. Trailing 6-2, the Cougars cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth inning. Junior Casey Dykstra drove in a run with an RBI double down the right-field before another run came around to score on a Westmont balk call with the bases loaded.

Azusa Pacific was within one run, but Westmont ballooned their lead to 9-5 with a three-run seventh inning. The damage could've been even worse for the Cougars as freshman Hayden Merda inherited runners at second and third with just one out. Merda struck out back-to-back Warriors to escape the jam as the Cougars turned to its offense once again to chip away at the four-run Westmont lead. This time, freshman David Hays answered the bell in the seventh with an opposite-field solo home run to cut the deficit to three runs. His first home run as a Cougar. Junior Aaron Roose added a sacrifice fly later in the inning to bring Westmont's lead to 9-7.

Merda, despite giving up back-to-back hits to start the eighth, went to work striking out the side stranding two more Warrior baserunners in scoring position. After another pair of Merda strikeouts in the ninth, the Cougars found themselves down to their last strike twice in the ninth inning. After Hays singled, freshman George Christison kept the Cougars alive with a two-out double to left that popped in and out of left fielder, Daniel Netz's glove. Christison's second double of the game moved Hays to third putting the tying runs in scoring position. Roose then was down to his final strike before singling up the middle plating the two runs needed to tie the game at 9-9.

Only fitting, after the year-long wait, the Cougars received a few extra innings of baseball. For as much offense the game had to that point, both teams were locked in a stalemate for the first four extra innings. Merda finished his outing with 3.2 innings, a career-high eight strikeouts, and retired the last nine batters he faced. Hays then got his Cougar debut on the mound, tossing three consecutive scoreless frames while striking out seven Westmont batters in the process. Azusa Pacific's offense became stagnant in extras despite leaving six runners on base. Westmont finally broke the stalemate in the top of the 14th inning with an RBI bunt single from Parker O'Neil. The safety squeeze with two strikes and a runner on third worked to perfection for the Warriors who took a 10-9 lead. Westmont's Chase Goddard finished off his fifth scoreless inning in relief picking up the victory to cap off the 10-9 win in extras. 

How it Happened (Game 2): In the scheduled seven-inning nightcap of the doubleheader, Cougars starting pitcher Cory Dawson, formerly of Westmont, didn't allow his former team a hit until the fifth inning. His four scoreless frames accompanied by five punchouts allowed Azusa Pacific to create its first lead of the day. Sophomore Will Stroud hit the second home run of his collegiate career to left field, plating a pair of runs putting the Cougars up 2-0 in the second. Brett Soria and Tyus Santa Anna followed with back-to-back doubles to increase the Cougars' lead to three. 

Santa Anna then doubled Azusa Pacific's lead with a three-run home run to left field in the sixth inning. Junior Osvaldo Tovalin added one more insurance run for good measure with his own home run, a solo shot to right field.

Dawson exited after five scoreless innings and allowing just one Westmont hit, giving way to Dykstra who capped off the 7-0 win with two scoreless innings of work. The Cougars' first shutout of the season secured the three-game series between the two teams.

Inside the Boxscore: The Cougars pitching staff struck out the Warriors at a high-clip in the doubleheader recording 23 of the 63 outs via the punchout (36.5%). Most notably, Merda retired eight of the 11 batters he got out on strikeouts (72.7%).

In the first game, the Cougars left 17 runners on base including six in the extra innings, and played from behind for the majority of the game. 

After a 3-for-5 day at the plate with four runs scored and two RBI, Stroud leads the Cougars with a .571 batting average (4-for-7), .700 on-base percentage, and is tied for a team-high four RBI through the first series of the year. 
Up Next: Azusa Pacific (2-1) will travel to Westmont (10-5) on Tuesday, March 9th to play the Warriors in their first road game of the season. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.