PacWest Power: HPU’s 20 hits hand Sharks conference-opening win over Chaminade
BY PAUL BRECHT | HONOLULU
PUBLISHED FEB 23, 2024
WAIPAHU – The Hawai’i Pacific Sharks baseball team continued the program’s best start to a year since the 2016 season on Thursday night, racking up 20 hits on the way to a 14-5 win over island-rival Chaminade (5-9, 0-1 PacWest) to begin PacWest conference play for both teams.
It was the third meeting between the programs this season – the first two came a couple weekends ago during the “Big Island Bash” over on Hilo when the teams split the matchups with an 8-7 extra-inning win for Chaminade in game one before HPU returned fire with a 5-1 victory the very next day. Sharks’ freshman starting pitcher Jordan Otjen spun a gem in his second college game in the February 10 win for HPU, going seven innings while giving up just one run against the Silverswords at Wong Stadium.
It was once again Otjen getting the nod for Dane Fujinaka’s squad on Thursday at Central Oahu Regional Park against Chaminade. The freshman right-hander continued his instant production at the college level by spinning six beautiful innings for the Sharks, striking out five Chaminade batters while allowing just one run across six hits to pick up his second win of the season.
His performance was complimented by an impressive offensive outburst for Hawai’i Pacific as the Sharks tallied a dozen runs before the fourth inning had been completed, six in the bottom half of the first frame as HPU sent 11 batters to the plate to open things up.
HPU (9-1, 1-0 PacWest) tacked on another run in each of the 7th and 8th innings to stall Chaminade’s comeback efforts as the Sharks grabbed their fourth consecutive victory, 14-5, in the first of a four-game weekend set with the Silverswords.
Chaminade starter Mac Elske was tagged with the loss for Chad Konishi’s program, dropping the junior to 1-1 on the season after going just three innings while giving up nine runs (7 ER) over 10 hits. The Swords committed six errors in the loss to the Sharks’ zero.
Hawai’i Pacific’s offense was led by a monster effort from shortstop TJ Smith, who went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and a pair of RBI for the Sharks. In total, eight different HPU batters finished the night with a run batted in as Hawai’i Pacific University remained near the top of every offensive category among PacWest teams through ten games.
HPU third baseman Skylar Agnew tallied three hits and an RBI in the win, continuing a nice start to his junior season as he ranks second in the PacWest in batting average at .444 through his eight games this year.
The Sharks and Swords return to the diamond on Friday evening for a non-conference meeting with first pitch scheduled around 6 p.m. HT before playing a twin bill on Saturday with one of the games holding PacWest implications.
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