{"id":178825,"date":"2026-02-15T06:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T06:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/178825\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T06:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T06:38:09","slug":"heartbreaker-azusa-pacific-university-athletics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/178825\/","title":{"rendered":"Heartbreaker – Azusa Pacific University Athletics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


\n
\n <\/p>\n

\"Fresno<\/p>\n

Next Game:<\/p>\n

Fresno Pacific<\/p>\n

2\/19\/2026 | 5:00 PM<\/p>\n


\n Feb. 19 (Thu) \/ 5:00 PM \n <\/p>\n

\"Fresno<\/p>\n


\n \u00a0Fresno Pacific \n <\/p>\n

History <\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

AZUSA, Calif. – The Cougars and the Westmont Warriors continued their series at home in the Cougar Baseball Complex Saturday afternoon. APU set the tone with a win in the first game but fell to the Warriors in the second.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Game 1: Back and Forth Battle – Azusa Pacific 11, Westmont 9.\u00a0\u00a0

\nIn Saturday’s first game, APU broke the silence with a rally in the 3rd inning. Jacob Freer<\/a> singled to left, advancing himself and Bryce Robinette<\/a>, who had walked. The duo moved up on a flyout by Noah Lane<\/a>, and were then sent home by a 3-RBI homer from Isaiah Rios<\/a> that sent the dugout into a frenzy. Blake Hagerty<\/a> continued the excitement with his own home run immediately after Rios’ at-bat, giving APU a 4-0 advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the top of the 4th inning, Isaac Veal scored on an unearned run to put\u00a0Westmont on the board before the game’s midpoint. APU responded with runs of its own. Robinette and Freer advanced on a set of wild pitches, and Noah Lane<\/a> singled to load the bases. Jacob Hayes<\/a> then singled to right for a 2-RBI hit, scoring Freer and Robinette. The next batter, Isaiah Rios<\/a>, drew a walk to load the bases again, much to Westmont’s dismay. Blake Hagerty<\/a> followed with a 2-RBI single up the left side, extending the score to 8-1. An inning later, Bryce Robinette<\/a> sent the ball over the fence to notch another run for the Cougar offense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Westmont slowly began to crawl back in the seventh. A 3-RBI homer by Joey Rico brought the Warriors within 5, but APU continued to strike. In the bottom of the 8th, Jacob Freer<\/a> launched a 2-RBI home run over the fence, scoring himself and Robinette, who had walked earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the top of the 9th, Westmont mounted a Hail Mary rally in an attempt to even the score. A series of wild pitches loaded the bases, and a fielder’s choice allowed Issac Veal to cross home plate. Grant Yzermans homered to left, bringing himself, Zach Mora, and Collin Callahan home. However, the Warriors ran out of innings. The game ended with an APU victory, as the Cougars claimed the first game 11-9.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the mound, several consistent pitching performances were vital in APU’s success.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Game 2: Way of the Warrior – Azusa Pacific 0, Westmont 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Westmont broke the game open and rolled past APU 10-0. The Warriors capitalized on a 4-run first inning and didn’t look back. The Warriors steadily climbed throughout the game, notching a run in every single inning. Westmont finished the game with 12 hits and 9 RBIs.

\nAPU managed three hits and couldn’t quite get past this Westmont pitching staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Up Next: The Cougars will look forward to their next PacWest Opponent, Fresno Pacific. The four-game series will take place at the Cougar Baseball Complex from February 19-21, with the first game scheduled for 5:00 PM on Thursday, February 19th.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Next Game: Fresno Pacific 2\/19\/2026 | 5:00 PM Feb. 19 (Thu) \/ 5:00 PM …\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-178825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}