ST. GEORGE, Utah – Hawai'i Pacific University had a rough night at Bruce Hurst Field as homestanding Dixie State rolled to a 17-4 PacWest Conference baseball win on Monday night.
 
The Sharks (12-12, 6-10) never led the Trailblazers (12-18, 8-12) in the final PacWest meeting between the teams. Dixie State moves to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference next season.
 
The Sharks surrendered 17 runs on 17 hits to the Trailblazers, while plating four runs on nine hits themselves.
 
HPU senior first baseman Christian Kapeliela of Kaneohe, Hawai'i/Castle was 1-for-1 with two walks and a run scored for the Sharks.
 
Dixie State opened the game with a single and an error that proved costly as the Trailblazers collected four runs, three unearned, in the bottom of the first. After seeing DSU score twice already, Jake Davison and Tyler Hollow connected on back-to-back doubles to put the Blazers up 4-0.
 
HPU rallied in the top of the second, with Kapeliela drawing a leadoff walk and junior leftfielder Jordan Mopas of Ewa Beach, Hawai'i/St. Louis High following with a double down the left field line. Senior designated hitter Codi Santana of Oxnard, Calif./St. Bonaventure HS, lined a shot to DSU third baseman Bryce Feist who bobbled the ball for an error, Kapeliela scored on the RBI. Sophomore second baseman Trey Yukumoto of Waipahu, Hawai'i/Leilehua drove in Mopas with an RBI single to center and junior centerfielder Tanner Tokunaga of Pearl City, Hawai'i/Pearl City drove in Santana with an RBI single to right pulling the Sharks within one at 4-3.
 
But that would be as close as the Sharks would get.
 
The Trailblazers banged out five hits in the bottom of the second with three doubles, a hit batsman and two singles to plate four more runs and Dixie was up 8-3 after two.
 
Dixie State got two more singles and a Shark throwing error for a ninth run, followed by an RBI single from Gabe Taylor and DSU went up 10-3 after three.
 
Dixie State added three more runs in the fifth and four in the seventh before the Sharks added a run in the ninth.
 
Freshman pinch hitter Micah Layosa of Lihue, Hawai'i/Kauai led off the inning with a double to left and junior catcher Gabriel Garcia of Bakersfield, Calif./Bakersfield Christian followed with a double to right center. But that would be all for HPU, and set the final at 17-4.
 
Junior righthanded starter Charlie Brooks of Ventura, Calif./Buena got the loss in going 1.1 innings allowing six runs – three earned – on six hits to drop to 1-3 on the season as he led the parade of seven Shark pitchers on the night.
 
Gabe Taylor (1-4) picked up his first win, pitching 6.0 innings allowing three runs – one earned – on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
 
HPU continues its mainland road trip by traveling to Fresno, Calif., to open a four-game weekend series with Fresno Pacific on Thursday night. First pitch at the FPU Diamond is a 3 p.m. HST (6 p.m. PDT).