ALAMEDA, Calif.-Timely homers backed up strong starting pitching as the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (20-16 overall, 14-7 PacWest) took the first two games from the Holy Names Hawks (21-17 overall, 11-11 PacWest) 9-2 and 4-2 Saturday afternoon at the College of Alameda.

Garrett Cooper's penultimate final start in the regular season was exactly the sort of outing Fresno Pacific fans have been used to watching over the course of the three-time all-conference selection's career.

The one unusual thing was that Holy Names tallied the first run of the game in the second inning to take the lead.

But Cooper's offense retrieved that and then some.

Tommy Rover and Andrew Valdez keyed the fourth inning with back-to-back hits to start the inning before Jared Aguilar's RBI single brought home both runners.

Chris Clement and Cole Yoshida each added RBI doubles in the inning to push the lead to 4-1.

An unearned run in the 5^th added to that lead and then Aguilar roped a grand slam in the 7^th inning to break it open.

Cooper was nails after the second, scattering five hits with a walk over seven innings of work and limiting Holy Names to just the one run.

Jaylen Rodriguez and Zach Dennis combined to close out the 9-2 win for Fresno Pacific.

In game two, Holy Names jumped ahead with a single run in the second against freshman Derek McNary.

Fresno Pacific put the first two runners on in the fifth with Rover's sacrifice bunt setting up an RBI by Valdez to tie the game at 1-1.

But both teams escaped further damage in the early innings with FPU hitting into a bases loaded double-play to miss an earlier opportunity.

The game was tied in the top of the 6^th when Miguel Ortiz walked to start the inning.

Pinch runner Trent Greene stole second and finally came into score on Jordan Smith's two-out single on a 3-2 count into center field.

Freshman starter Derek McNary worked into the 6^th inning and held Holy Names to just one earned run and stood in line for the win after a solid start.

But Holy Names got the leadoff man on third with nobody out when a balk forced home the tying run in the bottom of the 6^th, tying the game at 2.

Andrew Valdez answered back in the top of the 7^th with a solo homer over the fence in straight away center to put Fresno Pacific back in front, 3-2.

Jared Aguilar continued the inning with a single and pinch runner Nolan Brown came around to score on Chris Clement's two-out RBI double to right center field.

Gino Helmuth, who came on in the 6^th, recorded the final three outs to get the win for Fresno Pacific.

Both teams will get a break from action before returning to play on Monday in Alameda for a doubleheader beginning at noon.

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