AZUSA, Calif. – Ninth ranked Azusa Pacific got an eighth inning RBI single from Michael Staudinger to lead the Cougars past Hawai'i Pacific University 3-2  in PacWest Conference play on Thursday at the Cougar Baseball Complex.
 
The Sharks (14-21, 4-19) extended their mainland losing streak to 13, while the PacWest leading Cougars (27-4, 14-3) won their second straight and 12th in the last 13 outings.
 
Sophomore centerfielder Tanner Tokunaga of Pearl City, Hawai'i/Pearl City and Ryan Torres-Torioka of Holualoa, Hawai'i/Konawaena led the Sharks, going 2-for-4 on the afternoon and each scoring a run.
 
Sophomore righthander Tyler van Stone of Henderson, Nev./Foothills (1-2) got the loss for the Sharks, charged with three runs while allowing seven hits and striking out seven in 7.0 innings.
 
HPU grabbed an early lead, scoring twice in the first inning. Tokunaga led off with a single up the middle and Torioka singled through the left side of the infield. The duo advanced on an errant pickoff throw by Cougar starter Michael Fairchild. HPU junior designated hitter Codi Santana grounded out to first for an RBI as Tokunaga scored. Torioka followed by scoring on a Fairchild wild pitch.
 
The score held until the fifth inning when Azusa got two on board for shortstop Mychael Goudreau who smacked a 2-RBI double to the gap in left center to knot the score at 2-2.
 
In the eighth, APU's Pablo O'Connor led off with a single and Justin Gomez drew a walk off to knock van Stone out of the game. The Sharks brought in Junior righty Evan-Thomas May who got a fly out before surrendering Staudinger's RBI single down the rightfield line.
 
Hayden Jorgenson (1-0) got the win in relief for Azusa Pacific, while Mitch Williams worked the ninth for his first save of the season.
 
The Sharks and Cougars will play a doubleheader on Friday starting at 10 a.m. HST (1 p.m. PDT) for the second and third games of the series.