Despite loss, HPU Baseball shows promise ahead of busy April

They didn’t come away with the upset win to send shockwaves across the state — but for a stretch — the Hawai’i Pacific University Sharks smelt blood in the water.

The HPU Baseball team fell short to the University of Hawai’i Wednesday night in a tightly contested matchup that resulted in a 4-1 victory for the Rainbow Warriors at Les Murakami Stadium.

Despite being hitless through the first six innings, the Sharks were able to keep the Rainbow Warriors off the scoreboard themselves with the game being scoreless through that stretch.

The breakthrough for HPU came in the top of the seventh inning.

Owen Wessel opened with a one-out single to right field, followed by a towering double from Jayden Gabrillo that reached the wall. Wessel was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice for the second out, but a wild pitch allowed Gabrillo to cross the plate, giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead.

Jayden Gabrillo celebrates after crossing home plate for the first run of the game. | Photo: Brian Bautista

Hawai’i would go on to score four runs in the bottom of the frame — two on free passes with the bases loaded — but HPU (12-14 overall, 10-10 PacWest) showed some moxie for a team that hasn’t lived up to preseason expectations so far.

“I’m really happy about the effort our guys gave tonight,” said HPU coach Dane Fujinaka. “There’s a lot to be proud of. At the end of the day, we all expect to win, regardless of who we’re playing. We had opportunities to win that game, and that was the message to the team — look, guys, we can play alongside anybody in the country. A lot of positives to take away for sure, and we’re going to use it to get better against Fresno Pacific next week.”

Pitching and defense were bright spots for the Sharks.

HPU escaped bases-loaded jams in the first, fifth, and sixth innings, keeping the game within reach. Jacob Vanek pitched two scoreless innings with two strikeouts as the first reliever out of the bullpen, while Cristian Garcia faced the minimum over two scoreless innings, marking his first such outing this season. Former UH pitcher Rylen Bayne closed out the eighth inning, giving HPU a final chance to rally.

“I thought they did a good job of that today despite a little unlucky line drive hits that they had and we were able to pitch out of some jams which is really positive for us because I did think we’ve been struggling a little bit in that area as of recent so it’s really nice to see some of our arms come up in big spots and be able to pick each other up,” said Fujinaka.

HPU third baseman Tyler Arnold gets Jake Redding out in a run down. | Photo: Brian Bautista

“I thought our defense made some big plays as well. That’s just how it goes. It was a good baseball game, came down to a few pitches here and there. I’m proud of our guys effort that’s for sure.”

The Sharks will face Fresno Pacific in a pair of doubleheaders next Wednesday and Thursday before hosting Chaminade for a doubleheader on April 6. After that they go on their final road trip to the continent for the regular season when they try to play 11 games in a 12-day stretch.