LA MIRADA, Calif. — After a doubleheader sweep of BioLa yesterday, Azusa Pacific completed the three-game non-conference sweep with a 14-11 win Saturday at the Eagles Diamond. The Cougars have won 11 consecutive and are now 17-10 on the season.
The offense added another 14 runs to put the total across the three games at 56 runs (18.66/game) as outfielder George Christison went 3-for-6 at the plate with a game-high five RBI. Will Stroud also had a trio of hits going 3-for-3 with an RBI and a steal of home.
How it Happened: Just like the previous day, Biola took the early lead with a two-run scoring double against starting pitcher David Hays to give them a 2-0 lead. Hays settled in after that however, tossing four total innings, allowing just two runs and striking out eight batters.
The Cougars offense responded in a big way scoring 14 unanswered runs from the second to the top of the sixth inning. It started with a six-run second that was kept alive due to a Biola error with two outs in the inning. Spencer Rasmussen scored on a wild pitch before Stroud kept the frame alive with a single before advancing to third on a Casey Dykstra single. Trailing 2-1, Stroud stole home to tie the game before Jeffrey Castillo reached on a single. Aaron Roose then became the fourth straight Cougar to single, this time Dykstra scored from second to give Azusa Pacific the 3-2 lead. Christison doubled in two more in the next at-bat before Tido Robles singled him in to give the Cougars a 6-2 lead.
Castillo tallied the seventh run on a sacrifice fly before a Roose walk loaded the bases for Christison who's bloop single to right center field would clear the bases. Roose came all the way around from first to score after avoiding the tag up the third baseline before beating the Eagles catcher to the plate on a dive to make it 10-2.
The Cougars kept applying the pressure in the fourth tacking on another three runs thanks to a two-RBI single from Casey O'Laughlin and an RBI single from Stroud (his third single of the game). In the fifth, Omar Lopez would single in the 14th run to make it 14-2 in favor of the Cougars.
The Eagles would tally nine unanswered, including four in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too little, too late as Azusa Pacific completed the three-game sweep with a 14-11 victory.
By the Numbers: Christison leads Azusa Pacific in batting average at .386 on the season and now has 24 RBI in the 21 games he's played this season which is tied for the second most on the team. The Cougars have had a winning streak of at least 10 games in six of the past seven seasons, with the lone season being the shortened season due to COVID-19.
Up Next: Azusa Pacific will face Concordia in a three-game nonconference series next weekend. The first game will be played on Friday, April 1st in Azusa before a road doubleheader will follow on Saturday, April 2nd in Irvine. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at the Cougar Baseball Complex. To watch the game visit this link, or follow along with live stats here.
