AZUSA, Calif. — Azusa Pacific baseball recorded its first victory of the season, and first win of head coach Kirk Nieuwenhuis' career, with a 12-1 win over Northwest Nazarene in game one of Saturday's doubleheader. The Nighthawks took the nightcap in extra innings however, by a score of 7-3.

Nieuwenhuis' club was led by starting pitcher David Hays who didn't surrender a single hit in his 5.1 innings to pick up the win in game one. Cade Marshman picked up a first of his own in game one, tallying his first collegiate home run while he and Tido Robles each drove in three on the afternoon.

How it Happened (Game One): Hays started strong with a 1-2-3 inning in the first before striking out the side in the second, two of which were caught looking. The Cougars offense then capitalized on NNU mistakes which included a pair of walks and an error that loaded the bases. Robles recorded the first hit of the game for either side which drove in two before Marshman's sacrifice fly put the Cougars up 3-0.

The offense kept it going in the next three frames tallying runs in each of them. In the bottom of the third, the Nighthawks walked the bases loaded before Will Stroud drove in a run on a groundball and Brett Soria singled up the middle to make it 5-0. Then in the fourth, Marshman took the first pitch he saw to deep left center field to lead off the inning with a solo shot. The Cougars scratched across another on an Omar Lopez sacrifice fly. Leading 7-0 in the fifth, Marshman knocked in his third run of the day with an RBI groundout.

Hays was perfect through five innings in this one, sitting down the first 16 batters the Nighthawks sent to the plate all while striking out eight. His perfect game ended with a pair of walks in the sixth before he was pulled for Michael Gill. The Nighthawks scratched one run across in the inning but we're still left without a hit through six frames.

In the seventh, Hayden Merda allowed the only hit of the game for Northwest Nazarene but induced a ground ball double play to get out of a jam and end the top half of the inning. With the Cougars ahead 8-1, Merda struck out a pair in a perfect eighth inning.

Spencer Rasmussen added a two-run homer in the bottom of the frame to deep right center for his first of the season to increase the lead to 10-1. Later in the frame, Soria collected another RBI with a groundout that scored Casey Dykstra before Robles' RBI single upped the ante to 12-1 in favor of the Cougars.

Merda finished things off with another 1-2-3 ninth inning which featured his third strikeout of the outing as he recorded a three-inning save, his first of the season. 

How it Happened (Game Two): Steven Silvas, a Chico State transfer, toed the rubber for game three of the series for the first time in his Azusa Pacific career. The Nighthawks scored a pair of runs in the first after Silvas allowed three consecutive singles which scored the first run. A groundout would score the second run for NNU before Silvas struck out his second batter of the frame to end it.

The Cougars wasted no time responding as Aaron Roose led off with a home run that cleared the netting in left field on what was the first pitch Spencer Schwehr threw to cut the lead in half. It was the lone hit Schwehr allowed in five innings.

Silvas settled in after the first, retiring 15 of the final 17 batters he faced the rest of the way in six strong innings of work. The Nighthawks didn't have a runner reach in the second, third, and sixth innings as Silvas struck out seven and didn't allow a single walk it his six total frames.

Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh, the Cougars stayed alive thanks to an NNU error. With two outs and Stroud at third, Marshman's chopper to second base was mishandled by the Nighthawks allowing Stroud to score from third to tie the game and force extra innings.

Dykstra tallied a pair of scoreless innings on the mound but gave up the go-ahead three-run home run to Walker Moore in the top of the ninth which proved to be the difference.

By the Numbers: The Cougars one-hitter in game one today was the first since March 16, 2018 when the Cougars one-hit Academy of Art at the Cougar Baseball Complex. NNU suffered four errors in game one as just nine of the 12 Cougars runs scored were earned. With the split, the Cougars fall to 1-2 overall on the season.

Up Next: The final game of this four-game series will be played Monday, February 7th at the Cougar Baseball Complex. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. 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.