FRESNO, Calif.- Three home runs by the opposition proved too much to overcome as the third seeded Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (23-22 overall) fell 6-4 to the second seeded Azusa Pacific Cougars (32-17 overall) in the opening round of the 2023 PacWest Baseball Championships Wednesday afternoon at the FPU Diamond.
 
Two strike, two out homers gave Azusa Pacific a 3-0 lead after three innings as Omar Lopez solo blast in the first and Spencer Rasmussen's two run homer in the third put FPU in an early hole.
 
The Sunbirds broke through in the top of the fourth when Shane Pursell prevented a double-play with his hustle to first, beating out a potential inning ending double play and scoring Jordan Smith to pull within two runs.
 
Azusa Pacific responded in the bottom of the inning on Will Medina's three-run homer to break the game open to a 6-1 lead.
 
The Sunbirds made things interesting in the top of the sixth by getting to Azusa's starter Brendan Dixon.
 
FPU loaded the bases with no outs before Chris Clement produced another run on a fielder's choice to bring in Andrew Valdez.
 
Jared Aguilar scored on a wild pitch and then Cole Yoshida cashed in Clement to bring the game back to a two run difference.
 
Both pitching staffs locked in from there, however, and Azusa received valuable relief from Alfredo Frey for two and a third scoreless innings.
 
Jake Vargas locked down the save for the Cougars with a 1-2-3 ninth.

The Sunbirds received a strong, 7 inning start from four-time All-PacWest selection and PacWest Pitcher of the Year Garrett Cooper with just three pitches adding up to the difference in the game.

Syler Pillsbury and Brady Crow combined to work a scoreless eigth for FPU.
 
Fresno Pacific drops to an elimination game on Thursday morning against Holy Names at 11:00 a.m. The Sunbirds will again be the road team as determined by a coin flip Wednesday night.
 
 
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