Pablo O’Connor provides the power for APU with a home run and triple.
By Tim Peterson
(Mazmanian Field – Mt. San Antonio College) – The Azusa Pacific offensive outburst continued as they pounded out 17 more hits in a 14-5 rout of Cal Baptist Friday night in the NCAA Division II West Regionals at Mazmanian Field.
The Cougars have now racked up 31 runs and 32 hits in two games.
Pablo O’Connor did the most damage for APU with three hits, five RBIs and four runs scored. O’Connor hit one to Pasadena for a solo shot in the third inning and later hit a bases clearing triple in the eighth. O’Connor came just a double short of the cycle.
Mitch Dergazarian, Michael Satudinger and Blake James also had three hits each. Tied at one, the Cougars scored three in the second to grab the lead and chased Lancer starter Tyson Miller. Dergazarian knocked in two with a single and a run scoring single by James plated another. O’Connor’s blast in the third, his fifth home run of the year gave the Cougs a 5-1 lead.
Jonny Reid was solid on the mound for the Cougars.
Azusa Pacific scored four in the fourth highlighted by RBI singles by Daniel Martin and Ryan Santana to take a commanding 9-1 lead.
Antonio Chavarria belted a three run home run to give Cal Baptist some life in the fifth. Azusa Pacific starter Jonny Reid gave way to David May with two outs in the fifth. Reid gave up four runs on just two hits while walking eight.
The Cougars added a run in the seventh on a run scoring single by Adrian Tovalin and then O’Connor supplied the gravy by going the other way driving a bases loaded triple down into the right field corner for a 13-4 advantage. Michael Staudinger then promptly singled in O’Connor.
Lancers tacked on one in the ninth to close out the scoring.
““California Baptist is a great club and our guys did a great job making contact at the plate today,” head coach Paul Svagdis said. “It’s always good to win. At the end of the day every team here is a good team so we just have to take it one game at a time.”
The Cougars will now face the winner of the Cal Poly Pomona- Cal Baptist game Saturday night at 7:00.
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