FRESNO, Calif. – Azusa Pacific clinched the title in the first-ever Pacific West Conference baseball tournament Friday afternoon, defeating Point Loma 10-6 to complete a 3-0 weekend at Fresno Pacific University.

How It Happened:  The Cougars had runners on base in every inning, but finding that key hit to drive a runner home proved elusive through the early innings, as the Cougars left nine runners on base through the first six frames.  The Sea Lions would get on the board first with a solo home run in the third, then tacking on two more in the fourth, taking a 3-0 lead into the seventh inning, with Abraham Carillo throwing a scoreless fifth and sixth inning to keep the Cougars within striking distance.

The Cougars had the top of the order coming up in the seventh, and Will Medina led off with a single.  Will Stroud came up and fell behind 0-2, then fouled off two more pitches.  The fifth pitch he saw that at-bat was volleyed over the right field fence for his fourth home run of the season, cutting the deficit to 3-2.  Point Loma would respond with a run in the bottom half of the inning, but the Cougars kept up the pressure in the eighth.  

Carson Collett led off the inning with his second hit of the day and was lifted for a pinch runner.  Three batters later there were two on and two out for Medina.  The left fielder singled home pinch runner Cameron Lee, cutting the Sea Lions' lead to one and bringing Stroud up again.  The senior made history repeat itself, smashing the first pitch he saw over the right field fence for a three-run shot that put the Cougars ahead for good.  After a pitching change, Omar Lopez would single and score on a Spencer Rasmussen home run to cap a six-run eighth inning, with Azusa Pacific now leading 8-4.

Point Loma would get a single run in the bottom of the eighth, but the Cougars would again respond in the ninth.  The first two batters drew walks, then a throwing error allowed the first of those two to score.  Medina would drive in one more insurance run with a sac fly, and while the Sea Lions would again scratch one run across in the bottom half of the inning, Taylor Ouellette would work around that to strike out two batters in the inning, including the final out of the game.

By the Numbers:  Stroud, Lopez, and Cade Marshman each had three hits in the game for the Cougars.  Cameron Kessel allowed one earned run over the first four innings in the start.  In all, Azusa Pacific put 21 runners on base in the game.  The Cougars went 3-3 on the year against Point Loma, including two straight wins at this tournament.  Will Stroud was named the tournament's most outstanding player after hitting 5-13 with four runs and six RBI over three games, and Andrew White earned the most outstanding pitcher award for his 5.2 inning relief effort Friday.  Counting the 2021 automatic qualifying pod, the Cougars are 7-0 all time in PacWest tournament play.

Up Next:  Azusa Pacific (34-17) has clinched the PacWest's automatic berth into the NCAA Division II West Region playoffs.  The brackets will be announced Sunday, May 14th at 8:00 p.m. Pacific on NCAA.com, with first-round action set to begin on Thursday.