AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific hit the midway point of an old-fashioned shootout when a pitchers’ duel suddenly broke out, and the NAIA’s No. 8-ranked Cougars rode the low-riding right arm of junior reliever Garrett Granitz to a 12-8 victory over NCAA Division II Dixie State (Utah) Monday night.

Both teams scored in every half of the first 4 innings, but Granitz held the Red Storm scoreless over the final 5.2 innings to pick up the relief win, his first collegiate victory. Granitz, who has appeared in more games in 3 years at Azusa Pacific as a pinch-runner (9) than he has on the mound (2), entered the game in the top of the fourth with the game tied at 8-8, inheriting 2 baserunners with just 1 out. He promptly struck out catcher Tim Mott, the first of his 4 strikeouts, then got out of the jam when Darren Wilstead’s liner to left was snagged on the run by senior leftfielder Stephen Gillette.

“Dixie State has a great hitting team, and they come into this yard and are chomping at the bit to hit,” Cougar head coach Paul Svagdis said. “We were getting behind their hitters, and when you fall behind in the count, good hitters are going to hit.”

Gillette’s catch was one of several key plays by a sharp Azusa Pacific defense. After the Cougars regained the lead at 10-8 in the bottom of the fourth, Granitz walked Dixie State’s first 2 batters in the fifth. However, senior shortstop Shaun Lane gunned down the lead runner on a grounder deep into the hole at shortstop, then turned a double play grounder to senior second baseman Ryan Dowell to end the inning.

“I was pretty tight at first, but I told myself to just have fun and play loose,” said Granitz, who gave up 3 runs on 5 hits in a 2.2-inning outing last season in a 17-4 win over La Sierra, his only other pitching appearance for Azusa Pacific to date.

“I tried to relax, play like I knew I could and just tried to enjoy the moment.”

After issuing another leadoff walk in the top of the sixth inning, Granitz got a flyout and another inning-ending double play, this time courtesy of a sharp chopper to junior third baseman Ryan Delgado. Another leadoff walk in the Dixie State seventh was followed by a 1-out single, and a flyout to deep center advanced Mott to third. However, senior centerfielder Drew Evans’ throw to the infield skipped past the cutoff man towards the third-base line, where Delgado collected it and cut down Tony Nelson trying to take second on the overthrow to end the inning.

The Cougars took advantage of a pair of Dixie State errors in the bottom of the eighth inning, cashing in on back-to-back 1-out walks followed by consecutive throwing errors to add 2 insurance runs on Dowell’s 2-out double to left-center that pushed the lead to 12-8.

Alex Rosenhan led off the ninth for the Red Storm with a double down the right-field line, but he was caught edging too far off second on Chase Pittsenbarger’s grounder to Delgado at third and was tagged out scrambling back to the bag for the fielder’s choice. Granitz induced 2 ground balls, the first for a base-hit through the right side before another fielder’s choice groundout to short, then struck out Alvino Ramirez to complete the victory.

“Even Garrett (Granitz) wasn’t getting ahead of guys early, and I was getting a little fired up,” Svagdis said. “The good thing he did is he made the adjustment. Towards the end of the game, when we needed it the most, he started throwing strikes on the first pitch to get ahead of guys. I’m really proud of him. He had a great fall, so we’re not surprised that he did well.”

Dixie State summoned reliever Jayson Madson out of the bullpen to help slow the Cougar offense, which tallied 2 runs in each of the first 2 innings and opened the third with back-to-back solo home runs from Evans and Gillette to take a 6-4 lead. Madson balked home a run and surrendered another on senior rightfielder Eddie Crespo’s 1-out RBI single to left-center that gave Azusa Pacific an 8-4 advantage. Madson and fellow Red Storm right-hander Tyson Bailey combined to give Dixie State 5.2 innings of relief work, surrendering just 2 earned runs combined while scattering 6 hits and striking out 4.

Evans and Gillette hit Azusa Pacific’s only home runs, and both added singles for 2-hit nights. Dowell and Delgado added 2 hits apiece in the Cougars’ 12-run, 11-hit attack. Delgado drove in 4 runs to bring his team-high season RBI total to 20. For Dixie State, Brett Adams hit a first-inning solo home run to open up the scoring, and Jimmy Dever led off the third with a game-tying solo shot.

With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 5-0 on the season, while Dixie State drops its third straight season opener and falls to 0-1. The teams square off again at 2 p.m. Tuesday before the Cougars begin Golden State Athletic Conference play with a doubleheader at Point Loma Nazarene Saturday at 11 a.m.