HONOLULU – The Chaminade University baseball team on Thursday opened their four-game Pacific West Conference series against Biola University with their second straight come-from-behind win.
Just three days after rallying from two runs down against Concordia University Irvine, the Silverswords stormed back after trailing by four runs with a 6-5 win over the Eagles at Les Murakami Stadium on the University of Hawai'i campus.
Casey Kudell (Irvine, Calif./Irvine Valley College/Irvine HS), who had Tuesday's walk-off winner against CUI, was back at it with not only the tying run but the go-ahead RBI in the seventh inning.
Alex Greb (Seattle/Wenatchee Valley College/Ballard HS) drove in two with a pair of hits with
Andrew Karns (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho/Coeur d'Alene) also getting a pair of knocks as Chaminade improved to 7-10 overall and 5-8 in the PacWest.
Trailing 4-0 with runners on the corner in the third inning, a CUH stolen base attempt to second was unsuccessful but that allowed
Cade Fujii (Kapolei, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Porterville College/Kapolei HS) to race home for the 'Swords' first run.
Greb's RBI hit in the fourth brought Chaminade to within 4-2. Then in the fifth, they got within a run on an RBI sacrifice fly from
Aydan Lobetos (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Kamehameha-Kapalama). Two batters later, Kudell had his own sac fly, bringing in
Jackson Dorn (Happy Valley, Ore./Mt. Hood CC/Clackamas HS) for the tying run.
In the seventh,
Jake Harper (San Pedro, Calif./El Camino College/San Pedro HS) ripped a liner past Biola centerfielder Tommy Kendlinger who made a diving attempt. The ball got past him and rolled to the wall, allowing Harper to make it to third on a triple. That was followed by Kudell, who brought home Harper to give the Silverswords the 5-4 lead. Greb made it 6-4 later in the inning on an RBI single.
The Eagles got a run back in the eighth on a James Whitman homer then threatened in the ninth with runners on first and second.
Brennen Panis (Aiea, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Aiea) was summoned from the pen with two outs and needed just two pitches to get Adiel Torres to ground into a force out to Kudell at third base.
Mac Elske (Lake Oswego, Ore./Lower Columbia CC/Lakeridge HS), making his first appearance of the season, tossed 3 1/3 innings and allowed just two runs to earn the win in relief with Panis earning his first career save.
Josh Eigenbrodt was charged with the loss for Biola (9-11, 6-7 PacWest).
The series will shift to Patsy T. Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park Baseball Complex on Friday for the second and third games of the series with first pitch at 1 p.m. The finale will return to Les Murakami Stadium on Saturday.
