HONOLULU – Things went swimmingly for one team at the Les last weekend. 

Facing off with O’ahu-rival Chaminade (15-33) for a four-game series and the Swords’ senior celebration, the Hawai’i Pacific University Sharks needed four wins to surpass the 30-win mark – a threshold the program had not broken since the 2016 season. After a pair of wins on Saturday, Hawai’i Pacific had clinched a top-2 seed heading into the PacWest Tournament as the Sharks finally returned to postseason play for the first time since 2010. 

Still, Dane Fujinaka had his squad’s eyes on higher prizes with hopes at making the program a near shoe-in for a selection to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, regardless of a PacWest Championships title or not. A huge step towards making an NCAA Tournament-worthy resume: win 30-plus games. 

With victories of 7-6 and 9-3 over Chaminade on Sunday, the Sharks’ regular-season goal was reached as Fujinaka’s team pushed its record to 30-20 overall, going 17-15 during PacWest competition for the second-best finish among tournament-eligible programs. In a year that has been up-and-down to the max, HPU is back on the upswing at the perfect time. 

“We put it together for all four games [versus Chaminade],” said the Sharks’ head coach after his team’s 9-3 victory Sunday night. “I’m pleased with the way we’ve played, but it’s obviously great having [the momentum of a six-game win streak] going into the tournament that we’re going to play in. [There are] four really good teams where anybody can beat everybody, so we’ve got to be ready to go.” 

GAME 1: Hawai’i Pacific 7, Chaminade 6 

Xaiver Stoker got the start for the Silverswords as Shea Blanchard took the mound for the Sharks in Sunday’s first game. 

Stoker quickly became acquainted with a streaky HPU lineup as the Sharks pushed across a pair of runs in the 1st inning with a 2-out RBI ground-rule double from right fielder Noah Hata. The Swords scratched a run across in the bottom of the frame to cut the lead in half, 2-1. 

HPU worked quickly to reclaim the multi-run advantage as Haydon Huff led off the inning with a single, was pushed over to second on a sacrifice bunt and came around to score on a Nicholas Jio RBI single to left field. The Sharks extended their lead in the top of the 3rd as Hata and Huff scored on a base-hit up the middle by Elijah Igawa to make it 5-1 while Blanchard continued to spin a gem on the mound with three consecutive scoreless frames after his one-run opening inning. 

Chaminade began to get to Blanchard once again in the bottom of the 5th, putting the first two batters on with a walk and a well-struck single before Owen Schnaible came on in relief for the right-handed starter. The call to the bullpen didn’t help matters much as Schnaible hit the first batter he faced before a fielder’s choice, E-6 allowed a pair Swords to score and cut the HPU lead down in half after five innings of play, 5-3. 

CUH freshman Jackson Peper made it a whole new ballgame in the bottom of the 6th, drilling an RBI double to left field off of HPU’s Mac Leisher that allowed a pair of Silverswords to score to tie the game at 5-all after six innings. 

Again, Hawai’i Pacific calmly responded as shortstop TJ Smith led off the top of the 7th with a single before coming around to score the go-ahead run when a Chase Taylor single skipped by the Chaminade left fielder all the way to the fence, allowing Taylor to advance to third himself. He would come in to score moments later as Hata hit an RBI sacrifice fly to right field to give the Sharks a 7-5 lead. 

Chaminade would make one final push as freshman Joey DeCoeur blasted his first career homerun over the fence at Les Murakami Stadium to bring the Swords within a run in the 8th, but HPU closer Ryan Inouye slammed the door shut in the bottom of the 9th with his 13th save of the year, a new single-season program record for the Sharks. 

“Hats off to [Chaminade] and the coaching staff,” Fujinaka said of the Silverswords. “Chad [Konishi] has put together a really good team and a really good young core group. [I think] they’re going to be really competitive from here on out, they were this year even being their first year.” 

GAME 2: Hawai’i Pacific 9, Chaminade 3 

The night’s second contest started slower for the Sharks, being retired in order as Chaminade senior and Saint Louis alum JT Navyac struck out the side in his final appearance on a college mound. 

It would be the Silverswords striking first in the bottom of the 2nd as fellow Chaminade senior Haruki Kitazaki singled to center, moving Navyac to second base while scoring Ryan Ruch. Freshman Jaren Baris brought Navyac home a couple batters later with a single down the right field line, making it a 2-0 advantage for the Swords to open Senior Night. 

Hawai’i Pacific struck back in a big way in the top of the 3rd, tallying five runs while recording just one out take control of the game. Infielder Caleb Millikan batted twice in the inning, leading things off with a single before grounding out to shortstop for the final out. 

The lead ballooned to 9-2 in the 5th when the Sharks’ bats came alive again. Chase Taylor doubled home Skylar Agnew to re-start the scoring before coming around to score himself on a 2-out single from Frankie Peralez. After Peralez stole second, Millikan snuck a ball fair down the right field line for an RBI triple and scored HPU’s final run the very next batter as Jio delivered another RBI double. 

Shea Lake enjoyed a sparkling night on the bump in game two for the Sharks, spinning five strong innings with just four hits allowed, striking out three while only allowing a singular earned run and two runs total in the win. He gave way to Owen Schnaible, who gave up a run in just 0.1 innings pitched in the sixth as Chaminade’s Navyac had a run-scoring single poke through the middle of the infield. 

After Vicente Molina calmed things down for HPU in the bottom of the 6th to maintain a 9-3 lead, Jeremy Kahle locked it down to finish the Sharks’ 30th win of the year with a pair of strikeouts in the 7th to send Chaminade packing into the offseason. 

“It’s huge,” Fujinaka said of HPU clinching 30 wins on the year. “From Day 1 [this season], our goal was to win at least 30 games and we thought that would put us in a spot to make the tournament and have a chance at an at-large bid.” 

WHAT NEXT? 

Hawai’i Pacific now awaits the PacWest Championship tournament, which takes place this season at Azusa Pacific’s home field in California. The Sharks will face off against Concordia-Irvine in the opening round of the double-elimination, no-byes tournament. HPU fell in the first of four games against CUI back on April 12, dropping a one-run decision 4-3 before sweeping through the following three contests in Irvine, California with three wins by outscoring the Golden Eagles over those games, 31-11. 

“Offensively, [when] we put the ball in play, we play small ball, we run a lot of action,” Fujinaka said when asked about what a fully-clicking HPU team looks like. “[When we are] successful on the mound, we’re able to get ahead and throw our pitches … and on defense, we take care of the ball. I think when we’re doing those three things, it’s really hard to beat us.” 

CUI’s Jake Covey spun 7.2 innings of 2-run ball against the Sharks in that April 12 loss, striking out eight HPU batters while working around consistent traffic on the basepaths. According to Fujinaka, the Sharks are expecting to see Covey once again to open the tournament. For HPU, it’s a chance at redemption in the program’s first appearance in the two-year history of the conference tournament. 

The tournament’s top seed is three-time defending regular season PacWest champions Point Loma, who has spent a majority of the season in the national rankings. Tournament hosts Azusa Pacific round out the top four teams in the conference. 

With eyes on a potential postseason berth, Fujinaka and HPU have eyes on locking in a spot with the program’s first PacWest title in baseball since 2010. To do so, a gauntlet of talented teams awaits them. The Sharks went a combined 7-5 in the three respective series against the other tournament qualifiers, sweeping APU while being swept by PLNU.