HONOLULU – The Chaminade University baseball team stepped out of Pacific West Conference action for the final time this season on Tuesday, facing the University of Hawai'i for the second time.
And in similar fashion to the March 11 meeting, the Silverswords grabbed an early lead only to see the Rainbow Warriors post crooked numbers in later innings, dropping a 14-7 decision to their Division I neighbors a short drive down Waialae Ave at Les Murakami Stadium.
Four 'Swords had a pair of hits including
Safea Villaruz-Mauai (Hilo, Hawai'i/BYU/Waiakea HS) who drove in four including a three-run homer in the ninth.
Casey Kudell (Irvine, Calif./Irvine Valley College/Irvine HS) added two RBI in defeat.
Chaminade, which played its 13th and final game this season at the Les, fell to 17-29 on the season while Hawai'i improved to 26-13.
In the first meeting, the 'Swords scored four times in the top of the first before UH mounted its comeback. This time, it wasn't until the fifth inning that CUH posted a four-spot. Trailing 1-0,
Jake Harper (San Pedro, Calif./El Camino College/San Pedro HS) and
Trysten Mooney (Helena, Mont./Wenatchee Valley College/Capital HS) singled and walked, respectively. Villaruz-Mauai then ripped a bouncer up the middle, scoring Harper to tie the game.
Cade Fujii (Kapolei, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Porterville College/Kapolei HS) then got his second hit of the inning, lining a rope into the left field corner, scoring Mooney and giving the 'Swords a 3-1 lead. After a pitching change, Kudell lined a gapper to left-center, bringing in two more runs to extend their lead to 4-1, firing up the vocal Chaminade contingent.
The 'Bows answered in kind in the bottom of the fifth, scoring four times which included the go-ahead three-run home run from Ben Zeigler-Namoa, putting them up 5-4. Hawai'i tacked on more runs with help from the long ball with all four of UH's homers coming off four different CUH relievers.
The Silverswords made a little noise in their final inning. Pinch hitters
Ace Perry (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/University) and
Joe DuCoeur (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho/Lake City) reached on a hit-by-pitch then a walk.
Villaruz-Mauai worked a full count and, on the seventh pitch he saw from UH's Kaysen Raineri, deposited a three-run blast over the second fence in right, his 10th homer of the year and fourth at Les Murakami Stadium. In his 12 games at the Les this season, the redshirt senior hit .406 with 12 RBI,10 runs and a .813 slugging percentage.
Starter
Anthony O'Canas (Woodland, Calif./American River College/Woodland HS) went three innings, allowing one run on three hits.
Chris Cody (Orange, Calif./Irvine Valley College/El Modena HS), the third reliever of the seven used out of the Chaminade bullpen, was charged with the loss.
Max Jones got the win for the Rainbow Warriors.
The Silverswords will wrap up the season with a four-game PacWest series starting Thursday against in-city rival Hawai'i Pacific University with all four in Waipahu. Thursday and Friday will be at Patsy T. Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park with first pitch times of 2 p.m. both days.
