IRVINE, Calif. - Jake Covey pitched a complete game and Matthew Kaiser and Nolan Hunter combined for a shutout on Friday to help CUI head coach Joe Turgeon reach a new milestone.

With a pair of home victories over new PacWest Conference member Menlo College, Coach Turgeon earned career win No. 200 as the leader of the Concordia University Irvine baseball program.

CUI improved to 5-5 overall and has now won three straight PacWest contests.

Game 1: CUI 12, Menlo 2 (7 innings)

For just the second time in the NCAA DII era, CUI baseball won via the mercy rule. By building a 10-run lead through seven innings, the Golden Eagles secured a statement victory to deliver their head coach that milestone a couple innings earlier than expected. 

Covey was sensational and struck out the side in the third. The senior right-hander racked up 11 strikeouts against the Oaks, which are the most this season and brought back memories of his nine-inning, 16 punch-out gem he tossed last year against Azusa Pacific.

A 10-run frame also helped the cause as the offense batted around in the bottom of the sixth.  Entering that situation down 2-1 despite Covey dealing on the mound, the Golden Eagles put the ball in play to make good things happen. A pair of miscues extended the inning, which included a pair of singles, three consecutive walks in the heart of the order and finally three straight run-scoring doubles by Landry Spitler, Niko Santamaria and Cameron Slessor.

A RBI groundout by Isaiah Walz rounded out the scoring in the bottom of the seventh with the rare mercy rule walk-off.

Game 2: CUI 6, Menlo 0

After watching Covey dominate on the mound, Kaiser took the hill and did the same. He struck out two of the first four Menlo batters he faced and went on to notch a career-high 10 strikeouts. He whiffed seven of those batters while the other three were caught looking.

Patience was truly a virtue in the second frame as the Golden Eagles worked the bases loaded and then scored twice when Haku Dudoit and Tank Espalin forced home a run by earning back-to-back walks. Wyatt Madison added a single to left field that plated another run to make it 3-0 in favor of the home team.

Niko Santamaria knocked in Nicolas Erickson with a RBI single in the fourth.

Hunter came in and locked down the last three outs to wrap up the night and preserve the combined shutout.

The two squads will play again Saturday at 1pm and 4:30 p.m. to close out the series.

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