IRVINE, Calif. -- Concordia continued the best start to a season in PacWest history with eight more wins last week to push the team’s record to 32 wins in a row, making the Eagles not only the national leader in wins this season along with the only team that is still undefeated.
 
Concordia’s dominant pitching has been one of the biggest keys to its success this season. The Eagles have a 0.94 earned run average through 32 games, which is well ahead of the PacWest record set by Hawai`i Pacific over a decade ago. It is also the best ERA in all of NCAA Division II after the Eagles earned series sweeps against Chaminade and Hawai`i Hilo.
 
Katlin Entrup threw 18 scoreless innings last week to earn two wins and two saves with just five hits allowed for Concordia. At the plate, Concordia has hit a league-best 26 home runs with Rylie Rohr and Missy Nemeth each blasting three homers in the eight wins last week.
 
Azusa Pacific went 7-1 against Hawai`i Hilo and Chaminade to solidify its spot in second place in the PacWest standings. Katie Korstrom notched three wins and one save with a 0.49 ERA for the week as the Cougars improved to 20-13 on the season.
 
Biola put together a 6-2 record last week against Hawai`i Pacific and Hawai`i Hilo. Against the Sharks, Biola’s Paige Austin was locked in a pitching duel with Taylor Thompson from Hawai`i Pacific. Thompson threw a two-hitter and only allowed one run in the fifth inning. However, Austin was a hit by pitch away from a perfect game as she threw a seven-strikeout no-hitter to win the game 1-0 in the first of her four wins on the week.
 
The Tournament of Champions will be held this week in Turlock for most of the West Region teams.
 
Weekly awards for the week of March 21-27
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Olivia Smith, Azusa Pacific
OF, Sr., 5-3 -- Tracy, Calif.
Azusa Pacific won seven of its eight games last week and Smith recorded multi-hit games in six of those wins to help the Cougars solidify their spot in second place in the PacWest standings. In the first doubleheader of the week, Azusa Pacific won both games against Hawai`i Hilo as Smith went a combined 6 for 8 with two runs scored. In the next game, she went 2 for 3 to boost her batting average on the season to its highest point at .481, which led the conference at the time. Against Hawai`i Pacific, she went 4 for 6 in the first doubleheader with a home run (first of the season) and a double, reaching base on walks two times. In the third game of the Cougars’ sweep, Smith went 2 for 4 with two singles and two stolen bases. She has now advanced successfully on 18 of 19 stolen-base attempts, which is the best in the PacWest.
 
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Paige Austin, Biola
RHP, Sr., 5-5 -- Los Alamitos, Calif.
Austin pitched in five games last week and tallied four wins and one save as the Eagles won all five games that she appeared in. She threw complete games in all four of her starts, including three shutouts before recording a seven-out save with no earned runs allowed. In total, Austin threw 28.1 innings with just one run and 12 hits allowed with 34 strikeouts to just two walks. Austin opened the week with a seven-strikeout no-hitter to beat Hawai`i Pacific 1-0. Only a hit batter prevented the no-hitter from being a perfect game. The next day, Austin struck out nine batters in a one-run complete game against the Sharks. That was the only run she allowed all week. Against Chaminade, Austin threw complete-game shutouts on back-to-back days with seven strikeouts in her ninth and tenth wins of the season. She came back later on Saturday to finish off the series sweep by striking out four batters in 2.1 innings to earn her first save.