AZUSA, Calif. — Azusa Pacific started its journey to the PacWest AQ Thursday afternoon with a 14-2 win over Academy of Art. The Cougars used an eight-run first inning to jump out ahead and never looked back. A pair of home runs from Spencer Rasmussen and Brett Soria drove in five in the first while solo shots from Joseph Kim and Rasmussen later added insurance for starting pitcher A.J. Woodall. Woodall tied his season-high with eight innings allowing just one earned run, striking out five Urban Knights en route to improving his record on the year to a perfect 8-0.

How It Happened: The Cougars opened the game with an eight-run first inning that saw 12 batters come to the plate. After back-to-back singles and a walk loaded the bases to start the inning, Kim drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly to right field. Omar Lopez singled in the second run before Rasmussen's three-run bomb to right field made it 5-0 Cougars. Three batters later, Soria plated two more with a home run to right center for his fifth of the season. Osvaldo Tovalin capped off the inning with his second single of the inning, the latter driving in one to increase the lead to 8-0.

The Cougars added two more in the second via a Soria walk with the bases loaded before Aaron Roose was hit by a pitch to drive in another. Azusa Pacific was hit seven times in the game which was a season-high.

After Academy of Art scratched across one in the third, Roose singled in one and another came around to score on the play to make it 12-1 through four innings. 

Woodall kept it going with a trio of K's across the fifth and sixth innings to keep the Cougars 11-run advantage. 

Kim and Rasmussen each sent solo shots to right center field in the bottom of the seventh to add a few more to the Cougars run differential. It was Kim's ninth of the season and his first in over a month while Rasmussen now has three homers in the last two games.

In the top of the eighth, Woodall finished his outing with an 11-pitch scoreless frame that included a strikeout to tie his season-high of eight frames of work. Tripp Aversa finished the game with a scoreless ninth to help Woodall improve to 8-0 this season in 10 starts on the mound.

Up Next: The Cougars will face Hawaii Hilo on Friday, May 21 at 12:00 p.m. The Vulcans will be the home team in the game. The winner of the PacWest AQ Pod Series will receive the PacWest's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II West Regional.