IRVINE, Calif. – No. 10 Concordia University Irvine collected a pair of impressive victories on Saturday, defending its home field and improving to 6-1 on the season.

After going 4-1 to open the year at the inaugural Concordia Kickoff Classic at Great Park, the Eagles settled in for their first two games of the year at their home ball park back on campus and racked up the runs while also getting a couple impressive outings from their starting pitchers.

Game 1: CUI 14, Saint Martin's 3 (5 innings)

In addition to seeing the bats come alive, All-American pitcher Callie Nunes (3-0) struck out nine batters over the course of four scoreless innings. Nunes struck out the side in the first inning and five of the first six batters she faced. She has only allowed one earned run in her three starts this season.

The Eagles opened up an 11-0 lead to back Nunes after putting together a 10-run, seven-hit third inning. Senior shortstop Sarah Kretschmar led off the frame by smacking her first home run of the year over the wall in left-centerfield.  It was the first homer of the season for the Eagles and Kretschmar finished 2-for-3 with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored.

Sydney Sprinkle was one of the Eagles to bat twice in that third inning and also did some major damage at the dish. The Palm Desert, Calif. native and 2019 NFCA Third Team All-American provided a RBI double in her first at-bat and then came right back with a two-run double her second time up in the third.

Senior third baseman Amanda Gjertsen was the third Eagle to collect 3 RBI in the matinee and added a two-run double in that huge third inning.

Erika Morris also crushed her first home run of the season in her first plate appearance. Morris smashed a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth inning.

After Saint Martin's scored three times in the fifth, Sprinkle helped CUI close it out by throwing a bullet to Haylee Kloosterman to pick off a runner on third base.

Game 2: CUI 6, Saint Martin's 0

Gjertsen extended her hitting streak to seven games with two more base knocks in the second game of the afternoon. Her RBI single to right field broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning and helped open the floodgates for the Eagles. CUI scored five runs in the fourth with a few coming off of errors. Megan Massa had one of her three hits in that frame as well.

"Everyone can come in clutch at any moment and it's been so cool to see, just watching everyone grow from the fall to where we are now," said Gjertsen, who owns an eye-popping batting average of .500 after seven games with six doubles and seven RBI.

VIDEO: Amanda Gjertsen talks about how the CUI offense is clicking and eager to keep improving.

Freshman left-hander Rae Flores (1-1) earned her first career victory by pitching five shutout innings and only allowing one hit. Erika Morris came on in relief and finished out the last two frames to combine with Flores for the shutout.

"Amanda and Sydney set the tone for us offensively and this was a Concordia softball-type pitching day for us," said CUI head coach Crystal Rosenthal. "Our pitchers did a really good job just keeping the pace of the game in our favor and I'm proud of our overall effort today."

Sprinkle is now hitting .476 with five doubles and a team-high 10 RBI after seven contests while splitting time at first base and behind the plate.

"I felt really good at the plate and I thought I was seeing the ball really well," said Sprinkle. "I think our group is really confident and we've had two weeks since our last couple games but I think after a solid week of practice, we are confident in our skills and hungry to continue to win."

VIDEO: Sydney Sprinkle talks about how confident the Eagles are right now after an impressive offensive performance.

The Eagles will be on the road for about a month before returning home to play Notre Dame de Namur on Tuesday, March 10.

For the full CUI softball schedule, click here.