W: Vargas, Jake (1-1) L: Cody Hirata (0-1)

W: Carrillo, Abraham (1-0) L: Nick Agacki (0-2)

Game Recap: Baseball | 3/14/2023 12:56:00 AM | Joel Simeone

HILO, Hawai'i – The Cougars' final scheduled edition of "PacWest After Dark" went longer than expected, but Azusa Pacific made it worth the wait, knocking off Hawai'i Hilo 7-4 in 11 innings before taking the nightcap 12-2, winning the series against the 16th-ranked Vulcans three games to one and completing a 7-1 Hawaiian road trip  Game One: Azusa Pacific 7, Hawai'i Hilo 4 (11 innings) Hawaii Hilo got on the board first in the bottom of the third, manufacturing a run through a double, stolen base, and sacrifice fly.  The Cougars responded immediately, as Casey O'Laughlin and Omar Lopez had consecutive singles to start the fourth. One groundout later, lifted a 1-1 pitch into center for a sac fly of his own to tie the game.  Lopez would then score on a wild pitch to put the Cougars ahead for the first time, 2-1.  Hilo would regain the lead with two out in the bottom of the fifth via a home run down the left field line. The Cougars would again respond quickly.  George Christison led off the sixth with a triple off the wall in center.  A walk later, Carson Collett would drive him in with a single to tie the game again at 3-3 and force a pitching change.  Brett Soria then beat out a bunt single to load the bases, and Cade Marshman lifted the first pitch he saw into center for another sac fly.  That lead would hold until there were two out in the eighth, when Hilo got a pair of hits and a wild pitch to tie the game again. The game went into extra innings.  Azusa Pacific put runners at second and third with nobody out in the 10th, but failed to score.  But with two on and one out in the 11th, O'Laughlin delivered, hammering an 0-2 fastball over the fence in right, his ninth of the season, to provide the winning margin.  Five different Cougars had multiple hits in the game, while reliever Jake Vargas retired all 10 batters he faced to get the win. Game Two: Azusa Pacific 12, Hawai'i Hilo 2 It was the defense that got the highlights started in the nightcap, with the Cougars successfully thwarting an attempted double steal to end the inning.  In the second, Jeffrey Castillo and Christison drew back-to-back walks.  Will Stroud then doubled in a run to open the scoring.  Collett followed with a sac fly to left to double the advantage.  The Vulcans would even up the game with single runs in both the second and third innings. The Cougars regained the lead in the fourth, batting around while only putting two balls in play.  They loaded the bases with three walks surrounding a pair of strikeouts, then both Cameron Lee and Spencer Rasmussen were hit by pitch with the bases loaded, putting the visitors back ahead by a pair.  The bases were finally cleared by Tido Robles, who singled through the right side for 2 RBI plus a third runner scoring on an errant throw, busting the game open at 7-2.  Diego Frey would tack on a two-run single as part of a five-run seventh. That was more than enough for the Cougars pitching staff, as Abraham Carillo threw 2.2 scoreless innings to get the victory while Taylor Ouellette induced an inning-ending double play to the second batter he faced to end the sixth inning.  Castillo had two hits, two stolen bases, and scored three times, while Robles had two hits and drove in three. Up Next: Azusa Pacific (14-8, 7-1 PacWest) return home to make up a postponed series against Holy Names.  Game one of the four-game series against the Hawks set for Friday at 12:00 noon and can be livestreamed HERE.

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