Sharks baseball bounce back to earn split against Azusa Pacific

WAIPAHU — After two heartbreaking losses to start the series, the Hawai’i Pacific University baseball team had a prime opportunity to reveal what kind of team it was.

Not only did the Sharks win the next two games against Asuza Pacific University to split the season series, they did it in convincing fashion with two blowout wins last Saturday at Hans L’Orange Park.

HPU (10-11) won the first game of Saturday’s double-header, 8-1, before recording 14 hits in a 10-2 win over the Cougars (10-14) in the nightcap.

It was the type of performance that coach Dane Fujinaka wanted to see from his squad after losing a pair of leads in the eighth inning the previous two nights.

“Proud of the response,” said Fujinaka. “We executed the plans we set out and the boys did a great showing up with great energy after two tough losses. Nice to see our toughness show up.”

In the series opener against APU Thursday night, HPU held a 5-2 lead after captain Noah Hata’s first home run of the season before giving up three runs in the top of the eighth on a pair of homers by the Cougars. The game remained tied for six consecutive innings before ending in the 15th with APU winning game one, 9-7.

Friday night did not go into extra innings, but it was a lot tighter with the lead exchanging hands a couple of times before a bases-loaded walk gave HPU a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the fifth. APU ultimately tied it in the top of the eighth on a solo home run before taking the lead for good on a HPU error in the ninth inning for a 6-5 win.

“I told the boys that despite the 2-2 record, we got better,” Fujinaka said. “Losing those two close games will ultimately prepare us for tight games in the future that we will need to learn how to eventually win. We are in a good spot and we are definitely playing better all-around baseball.”

Tyler Arnold earned PacWest Player of the Week honors after a strong showing against Azusa Pacific. | Photo: Daniel Fujita

t wasn’t a series win, but the Sharks did earn some hardware from the PacWest conference after the strong showing in Saturday’s double-header win.

Sophomore corner infielder Tyler Arnold batted 11-for-18 in the series with four doubles, six runs scored and eight RBI to earn Player of the Week honors in the conference. He had three hits in two of the games and four in another. In the final game of the series, Arnold went 4-for-4 with five RBI and three doubles.

Utility Jayden Gabrillo, another sophomore, earned his second Pitcher of the Week award by pitching five scoreless innings in game four of the APU series. He allowed just one hit, walked just one batter and struck out three on an efficient 50 pitches.

Overall, Fujinaka was pleased with multiple performances from his squad.

“Taydem Hashimoto was an all star this weekend both defensively and offensively. Hata is starting to dial in his approach and is finally looking like himself. Arnold and Kan Taguchi have been great. Gabrillo has been outstanding offensively and I thought was just okay on the mound today despite the good results. But nice to see him workout off it and get in a rhythm. Thought he was better in the later innings.

Reliever Jacob Vanek throws a pitch to plate against Azusa Pacific. | Photo: Michael Lasquero

Super happy with the performance of our bullpen the entire weekend. I know they were tired and I asked a lot of them this weekend but they did a great job.”

Next up for HPU, a home series against reigning PacWest champion Westmont (14-5). The four-game series was initially scheduled for Friday and Saturday, but has been pushed back to March 15 and 16 due to upcoming weather.