AZUSA, CA—(April 22, 2013) -- The Hawai'i Pacific Baseball Team (28-16, 17-13) opened its eight game road trip with a split against Azusa Pacific (12-28, 9-17) on Monday. The Sea Warriors earned a come-from-behind 15-10 victory in game one, but dropped game two 6-5 after allowing five runs in the bottom of seventh in game two.

The Sea Warriors fell behind early after the Cougars managed to score seven runs in the first two innings of play. The HPU offense came to life in the third however, scoring 11 runs over the next three innings.

Kale Sumner kicked of the scoring in the third inning registering an RBI on a fielder's choice.  Sophomore left fielder Derek Nakasato scored one batter latter off an APU error and Tyler Tokunaga later scored on a passed ball.
The Cougars added a run in the bottom half of the inning to extend the lead to 8-3 before HPU pulled off its biggest inning of the game.

Lanan Rice-Kashima led off the inning by reaching on an error and later scored off a Nakasato single to left field. The Cougars would give up another run to get a double play in the inning before Kale Sumner knocked in Nakasato with a double down the left field line. Sumner later scored on a Codey Ellenwood single to right field and HPU tied the game after Rice-Kashima worked a bases-loaded RBI walk.

HPU reliever John Albert worked a quick five pitch, 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half before HPU rolled their momentum in to the fifth.

Nakasato led off the inning with a walk and came around to score two batters later after a Cougar error giving HPU the lead. Sumner earned another RBI, this time on a groundout to shortstop before Codey Ellenwood knocked in Marvin Campbell who had reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the inning.

Albert again worked a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth and HPU held an 11-8 lead.

HPU scored one more run in the seventh and APU added two in the bottom half, but the Sea Warriors added three more in the ninth capped by Campbell's sixth home run of the year to secure the 15-10 win.

The story of game one was the effectiveness of HPU's 1-4 hitters to reach base and HPU's number five batter to knock them in. The Sea Warriors were 9-18 with two walks in spots 1-4 while Ellenwood, the designated hitter, finished with five RBI in the fifth spot.

Albert picked up his fourth win of the season for HPU after 5 1/3 innings of relief, allowing three run off seven hits. Pulama Silva picked up his fourth save of the season for HPU working a perfect ninth.

In game two the Sea Warriors appeared to be on their way to victory until a crushing Cougars rally in the seventh.

The two teams exchanged runs in the second inning before HPU scored four in the third to take a commanding 5-1 lead.
Tyler Tokunaga singled to left field scoring HPU catcher Jordan Inamasu followed by back-to-back RBI-doubles by Campbell and Sumner. Ellenwood picked up his sixth RBI of the day with an RBI single to center field to make the score 5-1.

HPU took the 5-1 lead in to the final inning before starter Nick Woodward got in to trouble. Woodward, who had allowed just four hits in the game through six innings, gave up a home run to lead off the inning followed by a hit-batter and a walk. Silva entered the game in relief and a series of HPU errors led to a pair of unearned runs giving APU the improbable 6-5 victory.

Ellenwood finished the day with a team-high six RBI to go along with six hits in eight at-bats. Sumner's big season continued with four hits, four RBI and three runs scored.

The two teams return to action tomorrow in Azusa beginning at 3:00 PM PST.