CARSON, Calif.- While weather delayed the season opener until Saturday, the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (2-0 overall) displayed all of the enthusiasm and nerves of playing its first games of the season but showed off their depth and toughness in a double-header sweep of the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros (0-4 overall) Saturday at Toro Stadium.

An early lead turned into an 8-3 win in game one and FPU had to hold on for a 6-5 lead in the 7 inning game two.

"I really like our team," Fresno Pacific head coach Oscar Hirschkorn said after the wins. "We stayed together today, and our energy was really good throughout the day. That's hard to maintain in a double-header. I thought we did well to maintain that."

After its four-game series against Western Oregon was scrapped last weekend and the series opener against CSUDH was shifted one day later, the Sunbirds displayed all the qualities of a team picked third in the PacWest preseason poll and 7^th in the West Region to start the year.

The offense jumpstarted the season as the first four batters all reached base safely. First, Gabe Henderson singled and then promptly scored on Tommy Rover's double.

Andrew Valdez doubled home Rover and FPU had a 2-0 lead before it even recorded its first out of the season.

Rover singled home another run in the top of the 2^nd and Fresno Pacific built a 3-0 lead that lasted into the 7^th inning.

That was enough for Connor Semone's FPU debut. The transfer from San Joaquin Delta Junior College tossed five scoreless innings while striking out six.

The Toros had some baserunners in the first and the fourth, but Semone navigated through trouble to qualify for the win.

Lefty Rylan Tinsley took over in the sixth and retired the first eight hitters he faced before a walk opened up a window for the Toros.

By that time, the Sunbirds had opened up the lead to 6-0 as Trent Mallonee singled home Austin Cappas in the 7^th and then Griffith Fenn and Jacob Solorio tacked on RBIs in the 8^th.

The Toros capitalized on what would be back-to-back walks in the eighth by using a single and a double to score three in the inning and cut FPU's lead in half.

Josiah O'Bannon entered to extinguish the threat in the eighth and then received run support in the form of a Donte Valdez solo blast in the top of the ninth. Henderson tacked on an RBI single to improve FPU's advantage to 8-3.

O'Bannon struck out two batters in the ninth and closed the door for the four-out save.

Semone earned his first win in his first decision as a Sunbird while O'Bannon claimed his first save in his first appearance for FPU.

The 'Birds attempted to replicate the formula in game two with Cole Brincefield's sac fly scoring Rover in the first for a 1-0 lead.

Donte Valdez kept his homer pace going with a 2^nd inning blast to give him a quick 2 in just 2 games.

The 'Birds tacked on one more on a wild pitch in the second and handed starter Gino Helmuth a 3-0 lead.

Helmuth worked three innings of the 7 scheduled for the backend of the double-header, striking out two and allowing just one hit in his scoreless outing.

Veteran Jaylen Rodriguez worked three scoreless innings of relief, only allowing two baserunners, and would eventually pick up the win.

The 'Birds got one more in the fourth, but it was a Josh Pernetti two-run triple in the seventh that proved invaluable, even if it didn't seem meaningful at the time.

Cameron Gallardo came on for the ninth with a 6-0 lead, but the Toros reached on an error to start the inning.


After a walk, Gallardo retired the next two batters.

But with two guys on already, two singles, another walk, and a two-run single suddenly made the game 6-5, completely on unearned runs.

Plus, the Toros were threatening with the tying run at third and the winning run at the plate.

Riley Creech entered and secured the final out to earn the save and secured the double-header sweep as well as the series victory.

The Sunbirds saw 17 different players take at least one at bat during the doubleheader.

Rover led the way with a 5-7 day, driving in two runs, scoring two more, delivering a double, and walking three times.

Donte Valdez and Trent Mallonee were both 2-3 with both of Valdez's hits landing on the other side of the fence.

Henderson, Brincefield, Jordan Smith and Andrew Valdez each had multiple hits on the day.

The 'Birds used 7 different pitchers for 16 innings, striking out 17 batters and only allowing 3 earned runs.

"Our pitching, overall, was really good," Hirschkorn added. "We played really good defense in the first game. Connor did a really good job. Tinsley did great until that last inning. He did a great job. They ended up scoring, but he was perfect until that last inning."

Fresno Pacific concludes the series in Carson at 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning against the Toros.

"I think it was a good day. But we have things we need to improve," Hirschkorn concluded. "I liked a lot of what happened. I thought our energy and togetherness were great, but we have a lot of work to do."
 
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