AZUSA, Calif. -- Junior first baseman Brice Cutspec’s fourth-inning 3-run home run set the Azusa Pacific single-season home run record and helped the Cougar offense snap out of its recent slump with a resounding 21-6 thumping of a quality Cal State San Marcos club Monday night.

“Any win is a big win at this point, and I was really proud of the way the guys played coming off a couple tough losses last week,” Cougar head coach Paul Svagdis said. “I’m really happy for Brice – he’s done a really nice job this year. For him to hit 27 home runs in a minimal amount of games is a real testament to how he prepared himself for this season. (The single-season record) is a pretty big record, and he’s already got the career record as a junior. My hat’s off to him.”

Cutspec, whose 3-homer game April 18 in a 21-13 win over Vanguard tied the single-season mark of 26 set in 2007 by Scott Hodsdon, had gone 4 straight games without a home run and was 0-for-11 in 3 Cougar defeats last week. However, the 6-foot-4, 250-pound first baseman snapped out of his slump with a leadoff double that one-hopped the fence in straightaway center field, and Cutspec slammed a 1-0 fastball to right with 2 on and 2 out in the bottom of the fourth inning. His 3-run shot gave the Cougars a 9-3 lead, and Azusa Pacific tallied 12 more runs to extend its lead to 21-4 heading into the final frame.

“Of course (setting the record) was in my head, but I don’t think it really affected me as much as the mechanical things I needed to work out,” Cutspec said. “After struggling as a team, it was great that we came out and won and put up a lot of runs. We need that momentum for tomorrow, and especially going into a conference tournament on the road. We felt like we really needed to turn that corner before then.”

Cutspec was 1 of 7 Cougars with at least 2 hits in the contest, and his second-inning double sparked a 5-run frame that erased the only deficit Azusa Pacific faced all evening. The single-season home run record now belongs to Cutspec, who also owns the program career marks for home runs (58) and RBIs (203). The single-season home run mark and the career RBI records were held by a pair of Cutspec’s 2007 teammates, Hodsdon and Stephen Vogt, both of whom currently play professionally at the Class A Advanced level.

“They’re amazing, both as players and as guys off the field,” said Cutspec, who surpassed Vogt’s career RBI mark with a sacrifice fly Saturday at Biola. “To be associated with them is great, and I still don’t feel like I’m in their class. They were the type of guys who could pile everybody on their back and carry the team, not just by what they said or the records they held, but by how they came out and took the field. To strive to be more like them is something I want to do. If I can be ‘on’ and that helps us win, that’s really what’s most important to me.”

Sophomore rightfielder Virgil Chavira followed Cutspec’s 2-bagger with a home run down the left-field line to tie the game at 2-2, and a Cal State San Marcos error and back-to-back run-scoring base hits from seniors Eddie Crespo and Ryan Dowell pushed the lead to 5-2.

Senior leftfielder Stephen Gillette singled twice in the bottom of the Cougars’ 6-run eighth, leading off with a base hit up the middle and driving in the last of the 6 runs in the inning with an identical 2-out single that scored Chavira to push the lead to 21-4.

Chavira was 4-for-5 with 4 runs and a game-high 5 RBIs, and Crespo was 3-for-4 with a pair of walks and a game-high 5 runs. Gillette was 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs and his sixth double of the season, while Dowell batted 4-for-6 with 3 runs and 2 RBIs. Azusa Pacific’s other 2-hit efforts came from senior centerfielder Drew Evans, who was 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs, and freshman Jeff West, who singled twice to the left side in 2 at-bats as an eighth-inning pinch-hitter.

Senior righthander Christian Gagné started on the mound and struck out 4 batters in 4 innings, and junior Ian Kelly picked up the win with 4 innings of 1-run, 5-hit relief. Kelly also picked off a runner, just the third pickoff of the season for the Cougars. Cal State San Marcos scored both of its ninth-inning runs on back-to-back home runs from James Scott and Dane Ponciano.

“I’m happy for the seniors – I thought it was a good way for them to finish their regular season at home,” Svagdis said. “They all swung the bat really well, and they had a good level of focus. I thought Gagné did a great job on the hill, and I think he’s starting to get himself back into his particular pitching form. I know they scored a couple runs off him, but he was down in the zone with all of his pitches.”

With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 32-16 overall and wraps up its non-conference slate with a near-perfect 11-1 mark against non-GSAC foes. The Cougars finish the regular season Tuesday, April 28, with a 3 p.m. visit to Westmont, where the Warriors snapped a 17-game losing streak to Azusa Pacific with a 4-2 win last Thursday.