LINCOLN, Calif. – Azusa Pacific will be returning from their northern California road trip facing a daunting gauntlet to try to qualify for the PacWest Tournament, after dropping the final game of their series against Jessup by a 9-3 final Saturday afternoon at McBean Stadium.  The Cougars have now dropped five of their last six games.

How It Happened: The Warriors jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first, courtesy of a two-run homer and two more runs on a misplayed ball to left.  Allan Camarillo got the Cougars on the board in the second with a sacrifice fly to plate Jacob Freer.

The score would remain 4-1 until the Cougars staged a two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth.  Mikey Easter got it going with a double to right center.  He then came around to score on a single by Jacob Hayes.  Hayes, in turn, scored on a Dominic Martinez double, cutting the deficit to 4-3.  However, that was as close as the Cougars would get to catching up, as the rally ended with two runners on base for the fourth inning in a row.

Jessup loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth, forcing a Cougar pitching change.  While the next two batters were retired without any damage, two wild pitches resulted in two runs scoring, and the Warriors would end up with four runs in the inning in all, then tacked on another run via a solo homer in the sixth to complete the scoring.

Hays, Martinez, and Elijah Cook each had two hits to pace the offense for Azusa Pacific, though the Cougars were done in by leaving 13 runners on base in the contest.  On the mound, Blake Hagerty struck out three in 2.1 innings, while Gabe Jacobs tossed a scoreless eighth.

Up Next: Azusa Pacific (20-24, 18-20 PacWest) will head south for their final scheduled road games of the season on Friday, when they open a split series against Point Loma with a doubleheader in San Diego.  First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 12:00 noon.