AZUSA, Calif. – Taking Cougar Baseball Field for the fourth time in three days, Academy of Art baseball put six baserunners on in the fifth through seventh innings, but ultimately could not come back after No. 17/15 Azusa Pacific scored six times in the opening frame. Junior right-handed pitcher Collin Carriger (2-4) turned in a career-high 9.0 innings for ART U as the designated home team yet it was the Cougars who secured the NCAA Division II Regionals automatic qualifier with a 9-0 win.

Reminiscent of the two teams' first meeting, APU (32-8) used multiple home runs to build a 6-0 lead over the Urban Knights (16-20) in the opening inning on Saturday. Carriger, despite facing an early deficit, found his rhythm in the innings that immediately followed as he retired 11 of the next 13 batters he faced including three consecutive Cougars in the second.

Graduate student catcher Ryan Gamboa provided Academy of Art's first hit of the contest against Azusa Pacific starter Brendan Dixon (1-0) in that second frame, but no more scoring would occur until the fifth when another solo homer put the Cougars up 7-0.

A Gamboa walk and single by sophomore third baseman Adam Inouye had two on for ART U in the fifth, but an inning-ending double play ended the threat. The Knights went on to put two more runners into scoring position over the sixth and seventh as graduate student outfielder Andrew Shebloski, junior outfielder Ty Conrad, Inouye, and sophomore outfielder Hayato Niki all worked walks to get into the APU bullpen. Cougar reliever David Hays managed to exit each jam via the strikeout while his team added one more run on a sixth inning sacrifice fly.

Though Azusa Pacific loaded the bases in the ninth, Carriger held them to just one run on another sac fly before completing 9.0 innings for the first time in his career. He finished with eight earned runs allowed on 11 hits with one walk and two strikeouts. A pinch-hit single came off the bat of junior catcher Austin LaBarber in the bottom of the final inning, but APU managed to finish off the 9-0 victory in the end.

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