It was a rough outing for Josh Staumont and the Cougars
(Glendora) – Azusa Pacific fell behind 5-0 in the first two and a half innings and could never get back in the hunt in a 6-3 loss to Fresno Pacific Thursday night.
Joshua Banuelos clubbed a two run homer in the first inning to get Fresno started and after another run in the second, the Sunbirds used two hits and three walks to push across two more runs in the third inning. Before the sun had even set the Cougars found themselves down by five.
Daniel Martin just misses on a run scoring hit for APU
Azusa Pacific climbed right back in it in the bottom of the third when Joseph Daris singled to left, Danny Martin walked and Jordan Brower reached on a fielder’s choice. Matt Kimmel then drilled a line drive that got by the right fielder. By the time the ball was recovered and thrown back to the infield, all three runners had scored and Kimmel was chugging into third with a triple. With one swing of the bat the Cougars were right back in it trailing 5-3.
But that was the last time Azusa Pacific scored.
Fresno Pacific added a run in the seventh when Kaohu Gaspar hammered one over the right field wall and into the lobby at Chick-fil-A. Gaspar went five for five for the Sunbirds.
The Cougars loaded the bases in the ninth when Daris reached on an error, pinch hitter Dusty Sanderson walked and Danny Martin beat out an infield hit. But Fresno Pacific reliever Josh Mendeles got Brower to ground into a force play.
APU used five pitchers in all. Josh Staumont started and went five innings allowing five runs and ten hits while walking five. Fresno had 14 hits overall.
Fresno pitchers shut out the Cougars except for the third inning. Azusa Pacific finished with eight hits. Sunbird starter Eian Raeber went six and two-thirds, allowed five hits and and three runs while striking out three. Medeles had four strikeouts in two and one-third innings to pick up the save.
The Cougars fell to 10-5 overall and 6-1 in the PacWest while Fresno improved to 13-8 and 5-4.
FP 2 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 6 14 0
AP 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 8 0
Leave a Reply