AZUSA, Calif. -- There isn’t much that senior righthander Garrett Lebsock hasn’t seen in his 4-year pitching career at Azusa Pacific, and that’s why he was head coach Paul Svagdis’ pitcher of choice to fill in on late notice for the Cougars’ regular weekday ace Garrett Hodges, who was unavailable for Wednesday’s game against the NAIA’s No. 12-ranked Fresno Pacific due to a minor injury.

Lebsock, whose previous 4 relief appearances had spanned at least 4 outs each for a total of 12 innings, gave the Cougars 6.2 innings of quality work to lead No. 8-ranked Azusa Pacific to a 10-6 victory over the Sunbirds. He gave up 5 runs, only 2 of which were earned due to an error that enabled Fresno Pacific to plate 3 2-out runs in the third inning, scattering 6 hits with 6 strikeouts while walking just 1. The start moved Lebsock into a tie with Scott Hodsdon for seventh in career appearances (62) for the Cougars, although it was just his fifth career start.

“I feel like I’ve seen almost everything (in my career),” said Lebsock, whose career pitching resumé includes outings in both of Azusa Pacific’s back-to-back NAIA World Series appearances in 2007 and 2008.

“Going back to my freshman and sophomore years, I might have been nervous at times, but now I feel like I’ve been here before. I’ve been in conference games, so now I’m just ready for whatever comes at me. Whatever Coach asks me, I’m ready to do. It’s fun to get out there and get as many appearances as I can.”

Azusa Pacific’s offense wasted no time snapping out of an 8-game slump in which it won 6 games while batting just .254 as a team. Senior designated hitter Eddie Crespo’s leadoff single on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the first put a runner on base for junior third baseman Ryan Delgado, who hadn’t driven in a run in 9 straight games after racking up 23 RBIs in the season’s first 6 games. Delgado snapped the RBI-less streak, driving in Crespo from second base with a 1-out single to left that gave Azusa Pacific a 1-0 lead. The Cougars added 2 more in the second inning on sophomore rightfielder Virgil Chavira’s 2-run home run to push the lead to 3-0.

Fresno Pacific’s Joey Norwood reached on a leadoff error in the top of the third, but Lebsock quickly dialed up a pair of strikeouts before issuing a 2-out walk and surrendering a 2-run double to Dwight Nixon. The Sunbirds evened the game at 3-3 on Josh Jackson’s run-scoring double to right-center before Lebsock fanned Justin Keeney to end the inning.

“It was great to have Lebsock step in and go 6 innings without giving up an earned run,” Cougar head coach Paul Svagdis said. “All our coaches and players knew he was capable of that, and that’s why it was an easy decision to throw him out there and give him the start today.”

Junior catcher Chris Feicht drew a 4-pitch leadoff walk in the bottom of the fourth, and senior shortstop Shaun Lane drilled an 0-2 pitch over the left-field fence for a 2-run home run that sparked a 5-run frame. Crespo and Delgado singles put runners at first and third with 1 out for Brice Cutspec, and the junior first baseman delivered a 2-run double to left-center that pushed the lead to 7-3. Senior leftfielder Stephen Gillette deposited an RBI single to center to round out the scoring and give the Cougars an 8-3 advantage.

“We were definitely more pumped up than usual after our performance in the last game we played,” said Cutspec, who committed 1 of the Cougars’ season-high 7 errors in Monday’s ugly 10-9 non-conference defeat to Chapman, “but we just had to put that game behind us and set the tone in a conference game. Fresno Pacific looks like they’re going to be a big threat this year, and setting the tone with them was really what we needed to do.”

Lebsock tired in the seventh inning after inducing back-to-back popups, and he gave up his first earned run on pinch-hitter John Lampros’ 2-out RBI single. Having just passed the 100-pitch mark, Lebsock gave way to fellow senior Christian Gagné, but Aaron Lynn smashed a 2-run home run off the fresh arm from the bullpen to cut the Cougars’ lead to 8-6.

Delgado provided an insurance run with a leadoff home run to right-center in the bottom of the eighth, and Gillette homered 2 batters later to give Azusa Pacific its final 4-run cushion. Senior righthander Ben Jones retired 3 straight Sunbirds after issuing a leadoff walk in the ninth to preserve the victory for the Cougars.

The top 5 hitters in Azusa Pacific lineup, held hitless just 4 days ago in the opening game of a victory over San Diego Christian, featured a quartet of 3-hit performances from Crespo, Delgado, Cutspec and Gillette, spearheading a 16-hit attack against a Fresno Pacific pitching staff that brought the GSAC’s best ERA (2.18) and lowest opponent batting average (.198) into Wednesday’s contest. Chavira went 2-for-5 in the contest, putting the finishing touches on a spectacular 6-game homestand in which the sophomore rightfielder batted .400 (10-for-25) with 5 extra-base hits, 6 runs and 4 RBIs.

“Our offense has done a good job this year of answering the bell after an opponent has come out and thrown a few punches at us,” Svagdis said. “Our hitters have gone up and had really good quality at-bats to answer those attacks, and they did that again today. That’s a great quality to have, and we hope they can continue to do that.”

With the win, Azusa Pacific moves into a tie for the GSAC lead with Point Loma Nazarene, which lost Wednesday afternoon at San Diego Christian for its first conference defeat of the season. The Cougars are now 14-2 overall, 6-1 in GSAC play, while Fresno Pacific drops to just a half-game behind the first-place tie at 11-2 overall, 6-2 GSAC.

The teams will meet again in Azusa on Thursday, March 5, but the Cougars return to GSAC action Saturday, Feb. 28, with an 11 a.m. doubleheader at Vanguard.