HPU Baseball drops first game in PacWest tournament to Concordia, 5-0

AZUSA, Calif. — Not much you can do against arguably the best pitcher in the conference.

Hawai’i Pacific was held scoreless in its opening game of the PacWest Baseball Championships as Concordia cruised to a 5-0 win Wednesday afternoon at Cougar Baseball Complex.

Jake Covey, who earned conference Co-Pitcher of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors, went the full nine innings for the Golden Eagles with eight strikeouts while allowing just four hits.

The Sharks were held without a hit until the bottom of the fifth with a Chase Taylor single.

Concordia held a slim 1-0 lead after a David Baruch RBI in the the top of the third, but broke the game wide-open in the top of the sixth with four consecutive hits on HPU starter Conor Hourigan. The fourth hit in that stretch was a three-run homer that accounted for the final score.

HPU will play Point Loma in a must-win game to extend its season Thursday morning at 8 a.m. (HST). The loser’s season is over while the winner will play the loser between Azusa Pacific and Concordia at 4 p.m. (HST).

The Sea Lions swept the Sharks in the regular season.