Tyler Arnold delivers Senior Day show as HPU smashes Chaminade

HONOLULU – Leave it to a sophomore to steal the day for the seniors.

Behind a monster showing from 3B Tyler Arnold at the plate, the Hawaii Pacific University baseball team slugged a 19-1 mercy-rule shortened victory over rival Chaminade (10-35, 8-31 PacWest) on Wednesday evening to help keep pace among the top four spots in the conference while sending 14 seniors off with a victory in their final game at Hans L’Orange Park in Waipahu.

Arnold went 3-for-4 at the plate with eight runs batted in on Wednesday night, crushing three home runs to extend his program record to 29 bombs in his two-year career with the Sharks.

“That’s about as good as we’ve swung it all year,” said head coach Dane Fujinaka after the win. “I’m really proud of them. It was a tough, long stretch for the last 13 days.”

The Sharks wrapped up a marathon of 12 games over 13 days, going 8-4 to maintain third place in the conference’s regular season standings entering the final week before the PacWest tournament. The top four teams in the standings qualify for the three-day conference championships in Santa Barbara from May 6-8.

Arnold played hero, but Hawaii Pacific (25-19, 23-15 PacWest) saw plenty of contributions up and down the lineup as 21 different players got action for Fujinaka’s Sharks in the final home contest of the season.

CF Noah Hata, the captain for the Sharks, turned in a huge day at the plate in his final showing at Hans as he went 2-for-3 with a triple, a pair of walks, three runs batted in, and four more runs scored.

Hawaii Pacific CF Noah Hata poses with the Sharks coaching staff during Senior Night festivities. | Photo Credit: Daniel Fujita, HSRN

The senior center fielder has enjoyed an incredible final campaign with HPU, setting new career highs in runs scored, runs batted in, home runs, free passes (BB and HBP), slugging percentage and on-base percentage while pacing for a new career-low in strikeouts. He is tied for the PacWest lead in total walks drawn with 36 on the year.

“He took a chance on us, took a chance on me and an unproven coaching staff,” Fujinaka said of his senior captain. “We knew when we were recruiting him, we were going to build around him and that he was the face of HPU. He goes about his business that right way, works super hard and is the ultimate teammate.”

Arnold and Hata got Hawaii Pacific off to a hot start as Hata singled with one out in the bottom of the first before Arnold demolished his first big fly of the day for a 2-0 lead before the first frame ended.

Chaminade got a run back in the top of the third as Trysten Mooney brought home Caleb Kim with an RBI single to left, chasing HPU opener LHP Garrett Sinfield after 2.2 innings of work.

Senior Jacob Vanek (W, 4-2) entered in relief, getting the final out of the third inning to preserve the lead. The right-hander spun 2.2 scoreless innings for the Sharks, walking two and striking out one while holding the Silverswords without a hit.

Hawaii Pacific added crooked numbers in back-to-back frames, blowing the game open with seven runs in the fourth and eight runs in the fifth to go up 17-2 over Chaminade and put the PacWest’s run-rule timer into effect.

Taydem Hashimoto plated two runs with an RBI single to center in the bottom of the fourth and Kan Taguchi followed it up with a run-scoring single up the middle to make it a 5-1 lead for the Sharks with only one out.

Hata brought home Hashimoto and Taguchi with an RBI triple before Arnold delivered déjà vu to the onlookers at Hans L’Orange with another monster two-run home run to cap off a seven-run inning for the Sharks, giving a 9-1 advantage to the hosts.

Hawaii Pacific 3B Tyler Arnold takes a hack during Senior Day against Chaminade. | Photo Credit: Daniel Fujita, HSRN

After Vanek spun a 1-2-3 top half of the fifth for HPU, the Sharks tacked on eight more runs with Owen Wessel, Ethan Murakoshi, Taguchi and Hata all picking up RBI before Tyler Arnold ordered up a grand salami to clear the bases loaded with HPU players and make it a 17-1 lead.

Jevon Raboy put a ribbon on the scoring for Senior Night, delivering an RBI single to center that brought Hata and senior Keanu Spenser around to score the 18th and 19th runs of the game for the Sharks.

Christian Garcia turned the ball over to Jett Ah Sam to close it out for Hawaii Pacific, seeing the senior right-hander allow a one-out single and nothing more as he wrapped up his lone frame of action with a strikeout to clinch the run-rule shortened 19-1 victory for the Sharks.

After the laugher of a win by HPU, it was time to celebrate the 14-player senior class for the Sharks. Outside of Hata, it’s a group that saw role changes running at them for the majority of their Hawaii Pacific tenures and tackled the challenges head-on.

“I think they’re just selfless,” Fujinaka said of his seniors. “All of them, from top to bottom, they’re just super selfless and I think that’s the reason why they’re still here and they’re finishing out with us. It’s because they share the same values, they all want to win and they’re all really, really good team guys.”

Hawaii Pacific will wrap up the regular season next weekend on the Big Island, traveling to take on the University of Hawai’i-Hilo for a four-game set at Francis Wong Stadium. The Sharks sit in third place in the PacWest standings with four games to play, looking to lock up one of the four spots in the conference tournament.