AZUSA, Calif. – The Concordia University Irvine baseball team traveled to Azusa Pacific today for a PacWest doubleheader against the Cougars. After dropping both games on Friday, the Eagles entered Saturday looking for revenge against #8 APU.
The Green & Gold bats were hot in Game 1, as the Eagles scored 17 runs on 16 hits.
Jeff Pellegrino kickstarted the offense with a 2-run home run in the 2
nd inning, driving in senior
Cooper Moore. The Eagles struck again the next inning, with a
Matt Lautz RBI double and a
Bailey Collins 3-run home run, giving CUI a quick 6-2 lead. Fast forward to the top of the 6
th inning, the Eagles were able to plate 2 additional runs before
Nathan Benefeito lifted a 2-run home run to right field, extending the Eagles' lead to 10-3. APU would make some noise of their own in the 6
th and 7
th innings, cutting the score to 10-7. However, Collins would not let the Cougars' momentum last, as he blasted his second 3-run home run of the game in the top of the 8
th.
"We were just trying to attack offensively. Their pitchers like to fill up the zone and so we were just trying to hunt good pitches and put good swings on the ball." - Bailey Collins
Kyle Fujisaki followed Collins with a 2-run home run of his own, his second of the series. CUI continued to score 2 additional runs that inning, resulting in a 17-8 final score. In total, the Eagles collected 7 extra base hits, 5 of which were home runs.
"Offensively we were able to string some quality at-bats together and the guys were rewarded at the plate." – Head Coach Joe Turgeon.
Evan Larsen held APU to 4 runs in 5.1 innings of work, striking out 8 and ultimately earning the win and improving to 1-0 on the season.
Mason Metcalfe also turned in a strong performance in relief, going 3.1 IP, 4K, 1 ER, while only surrendering 2 hits.
In Game 2, the Eagles were bit by the long ball, as the Cougars hit 4 solo home runs.
Matt Lautz,
Haloa Dudoit, and
Bailey Collins each drove in at least one RBI, while
Xavier Gonzalez collected multiple hits. The score was tied 4-4 in the 4
th inning, but an APU double gave the Cougars a 6-4 lead; one that they would hold on to for the rest of the game. Reliever
Dillon Brown was lights out in his 3.0 innings of work out of the pen, while starting pitcher
Cole Spear fell to 0-1 on the season.
"We are close to where we want to be, but have some room to still grow. We competed both days and at the end of the day that's all you can ask for. We will learn from this weekend and be better going forward." - Bailey Collins.
"We played Eagle baseball and competed every pitch. I enjoyed seeing the fight in the guys and felt like we were in it until the last pitch." - Head Coach Joe Turgeon.
The Eagles are back in action on Friday at Biola for another SoCal PacWest doubleheader. They will return to Eagles Field on Saturday, April 3
rd.
Click
here for the full 2021 schedule.
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