IRVINE, Calif. - Concordia University Irvine continued its quest to climb into a top four seed for the upcoming PacWest Conference Tournament with a pair of statement victories over Jessup on Friday.

With CUI ace Jake Covey and breakout sophomore Matthew Kaiser still lined up to pitch against the Warriors on Saturday, it was two other pitchers who stepped up big time to help the Golden Eagles sweep Friday's first two games of the series.

Game 1: CUI 10, Jessup 6

Jamison King tossed a solid game for the second straight time and befuddled the Jessup hitters for most of the afternoon. Aside from allowing three runs in the first frame, King kept the visiting Warriors at bay and went deep in to the ball game. In his last start, he went a career-high 8.1 innings in a home win over Fresno Pacific. This time, King earned his first victory of the season by going into the seventh, finishing with two strikeouts and just one walk.

Left-handed pitchers Richie Kingsborough and Kaj James each chipped in with 1.1 innings of relief to cement the victory. James entered in a save situation with CUI clinging to a 7-5 lead and was rewarded with his second save of the season by finishing the job in the ninth.

Makamae Du Pont put CUI on the board with a RBI single in the bottom of the first.  CUI then pushed four runs across in the second inning to take a 5-3 lead. Two key plays included a RBI triple by Haku Dudoit moments after Sawyer Voortman was hit by a pitch, and also a two-run single by Wyatt Madison.

Madison made his presence felt with a 4-for-5 performance at the dish in game one. He finished with a double and three singles, and would later add a single in game two to give him five total hits on the day.

Landry Spitler was also a spark plug in the No. 2 spot in the batting order. He supplied a RBI single that ignited a three-run eighth inning and also had a productive out in the fifth that turned into a RBI groundout.

Game 2: CUI 8, Jessup 1

Evan Langer tossed a complete game in the rematch. The junior out of Carlsbad High School scattered nine hits and only allowed one earned run to cross the plate over the course of his career-high seven innings of work.  He collected four strikeouts, walked just one batter, and ended up securing the first complete game of his CUI career.

Shortstop Isaiah Walz led the offense with a pair of hits. Dudoit and Nicolas Erickson each scored twice.

Dudoit and fellow catcher Vito Fowler also pulled off a rare feat on defense that prevented an extra run for Jessup from scoring.  With runners on the corners in the third, Fowler threw down to Dudoit on a potential stolen base situation, only for Dudoit to throw a fastball right back to Fowler to nab the runner trying to come home from third base.

ON DECK

CUI and Jessup get a rematch on Saturday with their second doubleheader slated to begin at 1 p.m. PT

CLICK HERE for the updated CUI baseball schedule

Concordia ended Friday just 1.5 games behind Azusa Pacific for the fourth and final spot in the upcoming PacWest Conference Tournament.

CLICK HERE for the updated PacWest Conference baseball standings