AZUSA, Calif. — Azusa Pacific baseball swept another non-conference doubleheader with Fresno Pacific this Saturday. Joseph Kim's two home runs in game one vaulted the Cougars to a 6-3 victory before they unleashed 16 runs on the Sunbirds in a 16-2 game two victory. The Cougars have won four straight games, all against Fresno Pacific to improve to 6-2 this season.

How it Happened (Game 1): In freshman David Hays' first start on the bump for the Cougars, he struck out four and stranded a pair in the first two innings. The Sunbirds broke through with three consecutive singles in the third to score the first run of the game. Hays would retire two straight batters to get out of the jam though including his fifth strikeout to end the inning.

The Cougars responded in the bottom half of the third. Junior catcher Aaron Roose blasted a home run for the second consecutive game, a two-run shot that snuck inside the foul pole down the left-field line. 

Hays allowed a leadoff single in the fourth, but a strikeout and lineout double play got him through the inning unscathed. Hays then struck out the side in the fifth as the Cougars continued to hang onto their 2-1 lead.

In the sixth, the Sunbirds scratched one across to tie the game on an RBI groundout. Hays left the game after striking out his career-high 10th batter for the second out of the inning. Freshman Korey Shepard inherited a runner at third with two outs but left the go-ahead run stranded after striking out the first batter he faced.

Once again in the bottom half of the frame, the Cougars responded. Osvaldo Tovalin and Nick Estrella singled and walked putting two on for clean-up hitter Kim. Kim did just that by hitting a three-run home run to right field, his third of the season gave Azusa Pacific a 5-2 lead.

Shepard tossed a 1-2-3 seventh inning before giving way to freshman Hayden Merda in the eighth. Merda allowed his first run of the season via a solo home run to lead off the inning and the Sunbirds sent the tying run to the plate after a double directly followed the blast. Merda settled in though capping off three consecutive outs with a strikeout to end the inning.

Kim then hit his second homer of the game, this time to the opposite field for a solo home run increasing the Cougars' lead to 6-3.

Junior Casey Dykstra slammed the door in the ninth, recording his first-ever collegiate save securing the 6-3 victory.

How it Happened (Game 2): Azusa Pacific started the scoring in a big way in the second inning. Kim led off the frame with a single before Hays moved him to third with a double. Redshirt sophomore Evan Banks then singled in the first run of the game before Brett Soria knocked in another with a base hit of his own. Dykstra added his third RBI of the season with a perfect bunt single up the first baseline to score the third run. Roose then delivered with a three-run home run to left field to make it three consecutive games with a long-ball for the Cougar catcher. The Cougars would add a pair of runs later in the inning courtesy of a wild pitch and an RBI single from Hays that would cap off the eight-run second inning.

Senior captain Nick Estrella started his first game on the hill for Azusa Pacific in the nightcap. Estrella allowed a solo home run in the fourth but pitched five quality innings, conceding just two hits while punching out three Sunbird batters in the victory.

In the bottom of the fifth, Azusa Pacific put together another eight-run inning, with help from three Fresno Pacific errors. Sophomore Gabe Ramos drove in two with a pinch-hit single to right field, after a bad throw on the play, a third Cougar scored to make it 11-1. Tovalin hit a frozen rope double down the first baseline that drove in his first run of the day before another run came across on a wild pitch to increase the lead to 12. Junior Ethan Pilar singled in a run in his first at-bat as a Cougar while another run scored on the play due to a Sunbird error. With a 15-1 lead, freshman Cade Marshman walked with the bases loaded to cap off Azusa Pacific's second eight-run frame of the game.

The Cougars bullpen did the rest, redshirt sophomore David Wylie tossed a scoreless sixth inning with three consecutive groundouts. In the seventh, Fresno Pacific scratched one across due to an Azusa Pacific error but junior Declan Kearney closed out the 16-2 victory with a strikeout, soft lineout, and a groundout.

Inside the Boxscore

Double the Snowman. In the nightcap of the doubleheader, the Cougars offense twice, "hung a snowman" by scoring eight runs in an inning. In those two innings, their offense sent a combined 28 batters to the plate. They saw seven different pitchers between the two innings and recorded 12 hits, nine of which were singles.

Dynamic Duo. Kim and Roose combined for six home runs and 16 RBI (nine for Kim, seven for Roose) in the last four games against Fresno Pacific. The two combined to go 10-for-27 in the series including hitting .500 in the final three games (10-for-20).

Long Ball Livin'. Azusa Pacific blasted four more home runs today to add onto the previous four long balls in Thursday's doubleheader. The Cougars are averaging 2.13 home runs/game which is good enough for ninth in all of division two. The Cougars also improved to 3-1 in games where they hit three or more jacks.

Silencing the Sunbirds. Azusa Pacific's pitching staff allowed just four earned runs in the four-game series and held them to a .193 team batting average (23-for-119). Over the four games, the Cougars recorded 40 punchouts for an incredible number of 11.27 K/9. Most notably, the Sunbirds struggled against left-handed pitching as 28 of the 40 K's came from the Cougars starting pitcher trio of Woodall (10), Hays (10), and Dawson (8).