HONOLULU – The Chaminade University baseball team began the final weekend of their inaugural year Saturday hosting a twin bill against Hawai'i Pacific University at Les Murakami Stadium on the University of Hawai'i Manoa campus.
The Silverswords were hoping to carry over some of the good tidings that saw them defeat the Sharks in four of the first six meetings earlier this year.
Instead, HPU continued to ride its recent wave of momentum just 24 hours after clinching the program's first postseason berth in over a decade by taking both games of their final Pacific West Conference games of the season, 13-8 and 2-1.
Despite Chaminade's three-game winning streak to HPU ending,
Ryan Ruch (San Diego/Patrick Henry) posted his first consecutive multi-hit games since mid-March with five base knocks including three in the matinee contest.
The 'Swords fell to 15-31 overall and 8-22 in the PacWest. HPU (28-20 overall) ended conference action tied with Concordia University Irvine with identical 17-15 records but the Sharks own the tiebreaker due to their three-games-to-one head-to-head win. HPU also earned the No. 2 seed in the PacWest Championships which begins on May 8 in Azusa, California.
Game 1: HPU 13, CUH 8
The Sharks plated three first-inning runs but Chaminade answered with three of its own on RBI knocks from
Casey Kudell (Irvine, Calif./Irvine Valley College/Irvine HS),
JT Navyac (Kailua, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Cal State Fullerton/Saint Louis HS) and
Derek Augenstein (Vista, Calif./Palomar College/Rancho Buena Vista HS).
HPU got the lead for good in the fourth and extended it 13-3 in the eighth to put the 10-run rule into effect.
But CUH avoided the mercy rule in its half of the inning on a run-scoring two-bagger from
Joe DuCoeur (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho/Lake City) followed by
Andrew Karns' (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho/Coeur d'Alene) RBI single.
Ruch's bases-clearing double in the ninth, his third hit of the game, proved to be the game's final margin.
Owen Schnaible picked up his first win of the year in relief for HPU while
Mac Elske (Lake Oswego, Ore./Lower Columbia CC/Lakeridge HS) took the loss.
Game 2: HPU 2, CUH 1
Haruki Kitazaki (Fukuoka, Japan/Northwestern Oklahoma State/Jiyugaoka HS), one of the 'Swords' two seniors, got Chaminade on the board in the second inning on a double, bringing Ruch in all the way from first base.
But the Sharks got all the scoring they needed in the third as an error led to both their runs.
Unlike the first game slugfest, pitching and defense took over with starter
Max Patterson (Honolulu/Olympic College/Kalani HS) allowing no runs after the third.
Rhyn Chambers (San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente) came in the sixth and tossed the final two perfect frames in dominant fashion including striking out the first four batters he faced.
HPU used four pitchers with starter Jack O'Brien getting the win and closer Ryan Inouye getting a one-out save while Patterson took the loss. Both teams were held to just four hits with Ruch accounting for half of Chaminade's knocks in the nightcap.
The 'Swords will wrap their first year back as an intercollegiate program Sunday when they face HPU in a non-conference doubleheader at Les Murakami Stadium in a nine- and seven-inning twin bill. First pitch is at 3 p.m. with Kitazaki and Navyac honored as the team's lone seniors after the second game.
