AZUSA, Calif. — With dominant pitching, a high-scoring offense, and great defense, the No. 24 ranked Azusa Pacific baseball team defeated Hawai'i Pacific by scores of 8-4 and 9-0 to kick off the four-game PacWest series. The Cougars did it all today including scoring the final 15 runs between the two games and not tallying a defensive error on the day. With their dominant two wins, the Cougars improved to 27-13 (16-6) on the season.

Tido Robles smashed two home runs in game one to up his tally to 14 on the year, while A.J. Woodall tossed a complete game in the 8-4 win. In game two, Brendan Dixon and Hayden Merda struck out a combined 15 batters in the shutout, 9-0 win.

Game One: Azusa Pacific 8, Hawai'i Pacific 4

In the bottom of the first, Robles got his team on the board with a solo shot to left field off of the Sharks' ace Jack O'Brien. At the time it was his 13th of the season, tying the lead in the PacWest. 

After striking out a pair in a 1-2-3 opening inning, Woodall struggled in the second and third frames allowing four earned runs and giving the Sharks a 4-1 advantage despite escaping the third with an inning-ending doubleplay.

The Cougars clawed back in the bottom of the third with a pair of runs cutting the deficit to 4-3 on a pair of sacrifice flies by George Christison and Robles. The offense would get going in the fifth, Casey O'Laughlin's infield hit brought in a run before David Hays' two-run RBI single gave Azusa Pacific the 6-4 lead in the fifth.

Robles would cap off game one in style with a two-run home run to left field in the sixth inning doubling the Cougars' lead, 8-4.

After the inning-ending double play in the third frame, Woodall retired the side on just five pitches in the fourth inning before stranding a pair in the fifth. Another 1-2-3 inning in the sixth lasted just seven pitches before he struck out a pair in the seventh in yet another clean frame. After another perfect eight-inning, Woodall had retired 10 in a row before finally allowing a leadoff double in the ninth. But a flyout and a couple of groundouts would end the game with the southpaw throwing a season-high 112 pitches in his first complete game of the season. He tallied six scoreless to end the game while his seven punchouts were the most he's recorded in his three career complete games.

Game Two: Azusa Pacific 9, Hawai'i Pacific 0

In the first inning, the Sharks recorded back-to-back hits to begin the game against starting pitcher Brendan Dixon. But Dixon got a strikeout before Tyus Santa Anna cut down a runner trying to steal second for the second out. Another strikeout from Dixon would strand the runner at third to end the first. Dixon carried the momentum of escaping the jam with him as he retired 12 batters and got 13 outs in a row after the two singles to start the game. During that stretch, Dixon recorded seven of his season-high eight strikeouts.

The Cougars saw each of their first three batters reach to start the third inning before Will Stroud drove in the go-ahead run with a single to centerfield. Another run came in on a wild pitch later in the inning to stretch the lead to 2-0.

Dixon tallied his eighth strikeout of the game in the top of the fifth before his defense bailed him out again later in the frame. With runners at first and second with one out, DJ Stephens singled to right field and Stroud cut down Douglas Zolezzi at the plate who was attempting to score from second on the play. Hayden Merda would come in and strike out Braxton Wehrle to end the sixth and keep Azusa Pacific ahead 2-0.

With just two hits in the game to this point, the Cougars' offense came alive tallying six hits in the four-run sixth inning. Three consecutive singles brought the bases loaded before Carson Collett singled in a run with one out to make it 3-0. A sacrifice fly from Santa Anna increased the lead to four runs before RBI singles from Casey Dykstra and Aaron Roose stretched the lead to 6-0. All six hits in the frame were base knocks for the Cougars.

Merda retired seven of the first eight batters he faced via strikeout which included striking out the side in both the seventh and eighth innings. His seventh punchout of the outing ended the eighth inning and tied his season-high.

Robles knocked in his fifth run of the day with a sac fly to centerfield in the bottom of the eighth before solo home runs from Dykstra and Spencer Rasmussen capped off the 9-0 win.

By the Numbers: Roose extended his reached base streak to 19 games as he reached twice in game one and recorded three hits in game two. Robles' 14 home runs and 49 RBI lead the PacWest Conference. Today's complete game for Woodall was his first in over three years, his last being on April 18th, 2019 in a 6-1 win over Academy of Art. Dykstra was hit by a pitch for the 24th time this season, that's tied for the most across all NCAA divisions. Dixon's eight strikeouts in game two were his career-high, his previous being six a season ago. 

Up Next: Azusa Pacific and Hawai'i Pacific face off again on Saturday, April 23rd in another PacWest doubleheader. First pitch of game one will begin around 12:00 p.m. followed by a seven-inning affair around 3:00 p.m. Follow along with live stats here or stream each game for free here!