The Hawaii Pacific baseball team’s successful season took a hit on Wednesday as they lost 5-0 to Concordia Irvine in the first game of the PacWest Conference championships. Despite this setback, the Sharks are still in the competition and determined to fight their way back.
Coach Dane Fujinaka’s team, seeded second with a record of 30-21, will face Point Loma in an elimination game at 8 a.m. Hawaii time on Friday at Azusa Pacific’s Cougar Baseball Complex. If they emerge victorious, they will have another chance to compete at 4 p.m. that same day.
On the other hand, Concordia Irvine will face defending champion Azusa Pacific in the winners’ bracket. The winner of the HPU vs Point Loma game will then go on to face the loser of the CUI vs Azusa Pacific matchup.
Despite being unable to overcome Concordia Irvine’s strong pitching, HPU had an impressive season, reaching the 30-win mark for the first time since 2016 and entering the tournament on a six-game winning streak. However, Jake Covey from CUI threw a four-hit shutout with eight strikeouts that sealed their victory over HPU.
Conor Hourigan took the loss for HPU, pitching six innings and allowing five runs despite some solid relief pitching from Makana Quia and Vicente Molina, but it wasn’t enough to generate much offense in the game
