Blakeney’s complete game carries Hawaii Pacific to doubleheader sweep of Chaminade

WAIPAHU – Keehi boys keep building brick by brick.

Powered by true freshman LHP Nick Blakeney’s first career complete game, the Hawai’i Pacific University baseball team swept Monday’s doubleheader over cross island rival Chaminade with 6-2 and 15-3 victories in a pair of seven inning contests at Hans L’Orange Park in Waipahu.

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“I thought we executed the plan really well, both on the pitching side and on the offensive side,” said HPU head coach Dane Fujinaka after sweeping the twin bill. “Overall, those are the two cleanest games of baseball that we’ve played up to this point.”

Blakeney allowed just two runs (0 earned) in 7.0 innings of work, giving up two hits while walking one and striking out three Silverswords to pick up his first career college win for the Sharks.

The freshman southpaw got quick run support as HPU (17-15, 15-11 PacWest) plated three runs in the bottom of the second inning from an RBI single to left from SS Andrew Nykoluk and an RBI single to center by CF Noah Hata.

Blakeney returned the favor to his offense, sitting down the first 12 Chaminade batters that he faced. Senior DH Keanu Spencer added on an insurance run for the left-handed freshman starter in the bottom half of the fourth with a booming double off the wall that scored Tyler Arnold all the way from first base.

With a 4-0 lead in hand, Blakeney finally allowed one of the Silverswords to reach base as Cameron Breeze led off the top of the fifth with a single to right. The HPU starting pitcher quickly reverted back to form after losing his no-hit and perfect game bids, sitting down the next six batters in order to keep Chaminade scoreless.

After Nykoluk and LF Kan Taguchi led off the bottom half of the sixth inning with back-to-back singles, the Sharks tacked on two more runs to the lead to make it 6-0 heading into the top of the seventh after a pinch-hitting Blake Helsper and C Brock Wirthgen picked up an RBI walk and RBI sacrifice fly for HPU.

Blakeney returned in the seventh to close out the shortened game, running into a little trouble with a leadoff walk and passed ball putting a runner into scoring position before an error in right field allowed a pair of unearned runs to score. The freshman hurler settled despite giving up more action on the basepaths than he had all afternoon, getting the final two outs to push HPU over .500 overall for the first time since February 5.

Taguchi tallied a 3-for-4 day at the plate for the Sharks with three singles and a run scored from the leadoff spot. Nykoluk went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored and another run batted in from the nine-hole, giving HPU an extra leadoff batter at the bottom of the lineup.

3B Tyler Arnold added a perfect showing at the plate, going 2-for-2 with a pair of singles, two walks and a run scored while Hata collected a couple of runs batted in with his lone hit in three at-bats.

The story of the first game though was Blakeney, who started the season as a redshirt candidate according to Fujinaka. In need of extra arms and at risk of missing out on making the travel roster, Blakeney went to his head coach to try and get a chance on the mound to help the team back at the start of conference play.

First trying to get a chance at taking on teammates in live at-bats during practice, Blakeney badgered Fujinaka to put him on a practice schedule to compete against Sharks hitters. Once he got his opportunity, he didn’t waste it.

LHP Nick Blakeney walks off the mound after another scoreless inning against Chaminade. | Photo Credit: Diego Rivera, Hawaii Media Source

“We actually shut him down from pitching in the fall so he could focus on hitting,” Fujinaka revealed of his freshman two-way player from Liberty HS (NV). “He throws a live AB [in practice] … and like, dominant. Exactly what you saw today is what we saw in live ABs.”

After that, Fujinaka booked the freshman a flight and knew he could have another key arm ready to help the Sharks make a playoff push.

With a fresh bullpen for the second game, Fujinaka used six different pitchers to stymie the Chaminade offense while HPU plastered Swords RHP Brennen Panis (L, 1-4) for seven runs (7 ER) and chased the opposing starter after just two outs.

The Sharks added two more runs in the second and five more in the bottom half of the third inning, taking a commanding 12-run lead over the Silverswords after three frames. Both sides added one run each in the sixth inning but otherwise cruised to a calm result as HPU tattooed Chaminade, 15-3.

Ethan Murakoshi was the big hero in the second game for Hawaii Pacific, going a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored and four runs batted in. The sophomore 1B smacked his third home run of the season in the bottom half of the third inning with a two-run shot to score Ziah Chang.

Rylen Bayne (2-0) picked up the victory for HPU in the second game, going 2.0 innings while allowing two runs (2 ER) on two hits and two walks, striking out a pair of the 10 batters he faced before handing it over to the rest of the bullpen.

Winners of five of the last six, Hawaii Pacific will hit the road this weekend for a critical California road trip with four-game sets against Biola (April 11-13) and Vanguard (April 16-18) coming up.

The Sharks will also play a quick three-game series against defending PacWest champion Westmont at a neutral site to make up for the March 13-17 series that was postponed in the islands due to weather.

“I think we just continue to get better every week, which is what our plan was from day one,” Fujinaka said ahead of his team’s stretch of 11 road games in 12 days. “We want to play our best baseball in April, which it’s April and I’m glad we’re playing really good baseball right now. We’ve just got to continue to get better.”