IRVINE, Calif. – The Eagles completed their 8-game homestand with a 6-2 record after salvaging a Saturday split with Fresno Pacific. The two teams each won twice in the four-game series at newly renovated Eagles Field.

Game 1: Sunbirds 10, Eagles 1

Senior Bailey Collins had a busy day out in left field. He robbed the Sunbirds of a home run with an amazing catch on a deep fly ball right at the wall and also hustled down the line for another tough catch later in the game. The Colorado native finished 1-for-3 at the plate with a walk as well.

Second baseman Shane Hersh smacked a triple to the gap in right-centerfield in the bottom of the fifth. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Derek Delgado to trim the deficit to 4-1.

Haloa Dudoit added a pair of singles for the Eagles. Unfortunately, the CUI offense as a whole didn't have its best game and the Fresno Pacific pitching staff allowed only one run. In contrast, the Sunbirds offense came alive and was able to rack up runs in multiple innings to claim a 10-1 victory.

Game 2: Eagles 4, Sunbirds 0

Jimmy Endersby struck out seven batters and limited the Sunbirds to just four hits to register his second complete game of the season. Endersby improved to 5-0 and now owns an impressive 6-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio with 37 punchouts this season to just six walks. The Eagles have won every time Endersby has gotten the starting nod this season.

The Eagles (17-7, 6-2 PacWest) broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to the second half of the lineup. Bailey Collins reached on a single into the shift on the right side and was bunted over by Calvin Schonebaum. Catcher Tony Garcia III and Shane Hersh followed with back-to-back RBI singles to put the Eagles in front by a score of 2-0.

Looking for more, Matt Lautz reached on a standup double off the left field wall with one out in the bottom of the fifth. He would later score an unearned run to stretch the CUI lead to 3-0.

Collins continued to showcase great defense by nailing a runner trying to stretch out a single into a double in the top of the sixth. Shane Hersh applied the tag at second base and Endersby ended up pitching a 1-2-3 inning.

"I haven't gotten my number called in left field recently but I was just going out there doing what I could to help the team and trying to play lockdown defense," said Collins. "It was a huge win for us and it just showed we are never going to lay down and we're always going to bounce back and do what it takes to find a way to win."

The Sunbirds (13-9, 2-2 PacWest) were able to load the bases in the seventh and final inning, but Endersby and catcher Tony Garcia III stayed the course and were able to preserve the shutout down the stretch.

"Me and Tony have good chemistry," said Endersby. "We started off with a lot of heaters because we saw they could hit the breaking ball pretty well. They're a good hitting team and whenever you're behind in the count they're going to attack that heater. We stayed ahead in the count and I have three pitches to play with so when we got ahead in the count we got them almost every time."

"It starts on the mound, and Jimmy's a bulldog and we'll go to war with him everyday," added Collins. "He set the tone right away and we just followed him."

"That first game, that was the first time this year's team really had another team take it to us," admitted CUI head coach Joe Turgeon. "They were challenged, and they met that challenge in the second game and it started with Jimmy. He's in that slot for a reason and he did exactly what we were hoping he would do today and he's been doing it all year. He pitched one heck of a game and we had tremendous defense, both Infield defense and also outfield defense with Bailey Collins. I made a point to tell Bailey that it's a testament to him and the baseball IQ that he has since he hasn't had a lot of reps in left field this year. But due to some injuries we've had, he found his name in left field and he made some very, very special plays. He also helped us late with some quality at-bats that helped us score those four runs in the second game when runs were hard to come by, especially with the quality of arms that Fresno Pacific threw out there."

"I'm very proud of how our team responded especially after facing the four quality starting pitchers that Fresno Pacific has and how we handled ourselves," added Turgeon.

The Eagles will visit Azusa Pacific on Tuesday, March 10 for one non-conference game before enjoying a week off from games and preparing to host Academy of Art the following weekend.

For the full CUI baseball schedule, click here.