WAIPAHU, O'ahu, Hawai'i – The Chaminade University baseball team put a wrap on Year 2 of its resurrection Thursday, splitting its makeup doubleheader finale against Hawai'i Pacific University at Hans L'Orange Field after rain washed out Sunday's twinbill.
In the completion of the suspended first game,
Benny Nazario (San Pablo, Calif./College of Marin/Pinole Valley HS) drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning to give the Silverswords the 6-5 win, completing the comeback in which they were down 5-0, while snapping their nine-game losing streak. The Sharks won the second game, 8-3, and won three of four in the series.
Chaminade finished the season at 18-32 overall and 16-28 in the Pacific West Conference. HPU, which clinched the No. 3 seed in next week's PacWest Tournament, ended the regular season at 30-20 and 28-16 in the conference.
Game 1: CUH 6, HPU 5 (12 inn.)
Picking up from where they left off on Sunday, the Silverswords faced a jam in the top of the 10th with Sharks at first and second with one out but reliever
Joseph Perez (Goodyear, Ariz./Glendale CC/Verrado HS), who was on the mound on Sunday when the game was interrupted, got two quick outs to end the frame.
Neither team could push across runs across over the next two innings.
Then in the fifth extra inning of what was supposed to be a seven-inning contest,
Jackson Dorn (Happy Valley, Ore./Mt. Hood CC/Clackamas HS) and
Alex Greb (Seattle/Wenatchee Valley College/Ballard HS) both got two-out singles. Nazario, who had been scuffling the past month, then ripped the first pitch he saw from Sharks closer Ryan Inouye into left-center for the walk-off winner.
In a battle of the two closers, Perez got the better of Inouye to pick up the win and improve to 4-3. The CUH junior threw 25 pitches in the resumption and, combined with his work on Sunday, went 4 2/3 frames.
Safea Villaruz-Mauai (Hilo, Hawai'i/BYU/Waiakea HS) had two RBI for the game, both coming in the seventh-inning rally on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Inouye threw 39 pitches on Thursday as he when the final 5 2/3 for HPU.
Game 2: HPU 8, CUH 3
After spotting the Sharks two runs in the top of the first, Villaruz-Mauai cut the deficit in half with a towering solo homer to right-center field in the bottom of the frame, his 11th of the season.
HPU tacked on single runs in the second and fourth innings to grab a 4-1 lead.
Cade Fujii (Kapolei, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Porterville College/Kapolei HS) led off the home half of the fourth with a blast that bounced off the top and over the fence in left field for his sixth jack of the year.
Casey Kudell (Irvine, Calif./Irvine Valley College/Irvine HS) then singled and, on
Andrew Karns' (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho/Coeur d'Alene) bunt, got all the way to third but the first baseman's to throw him to get him at third sailed into foul territory, allowing Kudell to trot home, trimming the deficit to 4-3.
However, the Sharks got four insurance runs then Conor Hourigan struck Chaminade's last four batters to ensure the win in the finale.
Dorn got two of the 'Swords' seven hits in his final game.
Rhyn Chambers (San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente), making his first career start, took the loss.
Jayden Gabrillo got the win for HPU while Hourigan went the final two frames for the Sharks to pick up his first save of the year.
