AZUSA, Calif. — Azusa Pacific baseball dropped its home opener on Friday evening by a score of 4-3 to Northwest Nazarene at the Cougar Baseball Complex. The 8th-ranked Cougars and 13th-ranked Nighthawks were locked in a close battle before NNU edged the Cougars in the top of the 9th inning with a run which proved to the difference.

Brett Soria and Casey Dykstra provided the offense as Soria's two-RBI double in the second gave the Cougars the lead before Dykstra's solo shot in the 5th increased the advantage. 

How It Happened: Starting pitcher A.J. Woodall allowed just one hit in his outing which happened to be a solo home run in the first inning. Woodall tossed a pair of scoreless frames and struck out four Nighthawks but was pulled after three innings of work.

The Cougars answered back in the second as Soria's two-run double down the right field line drove in Dykstra and Spencer Rasmussen to give Azusa Pacific a 2-1 lead. As mentioned above, Dykstra increased the advantage to 3-1 in the fifth with a monstrous solo homer to right that cleared the netting.

After tossing three scoreless innings in relief, the Nighthawks finally got to Isaac Mendez in the seventh. A solo homer to left started the rally before a run-scoring double tied the game at 3-apiece. Mendez stopped the bleeding with a flyout and a groundout to end his day, he struck out four.

Korey Shepard pitched a scoreless eighth but the Cougars were unable to breakthrough keeping the game tied going into the ninth. To start the top of the ninth, Shepard allowed a walk before his pickoff attempt caught David Hays off guard and the ball went sailing down the right field line allowing the Nighthawk runner to advance to third on the error. Shepard got a groundball with the infield in to keep the game tied but the Nighthawks would scratch across the run on a groundball that went off of Soria's glove and into right field.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Cougars caught a break as Omar Lopez reached on a drop third strike to opening the inning. The next two Cougars recorded outs before Hays singled to make it first and second. Dykstra would strike out to end the game however, securing the win for left-hander Blake McFadden who tossed the final 2.1 innings and struck out four.

By the Numbers: The Cougars left 13 runners on base in the game including eight in the first four frames. Azusa Pacific outhit Northwest Nazarene (8-to-6) and used just three arms compared to five for NNU. 

Up Next: The two teams will face-off Saturday, February 5th in a doubleheader with first pitch scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at the Cougar Baseball Complex. Fans are allowed at the games and admission is FREE, if you are unable to attend you can watch our FREE live stream here, or follow along with live stats here.