University of Hawai‘i at Hilo first baseman Ryan Cho has been named the NCAA Division II Pacific West Conference Player of the Week.
Cho had 10 hits in 15 at-bats for the Vulcans as they won two out of three away games against Hawai‘i Pacific University over the weekend. He scored six times in those three games, hit two doubles, a home run and seven RBI. He went 5-for-6 in the Sunday contest including the home run. The fourth-year Vulcan is hitting a career best .418 with eight doubles and does not have an error in 137 chances at first base.
Junior right-hander Riley O’Sullivan of Concordia University picked up his second PacWest Pitcher of the Week honor with his nine-inning shutdown of Holy Names. For the third time this season, the 6’4, 230-pounder went the nine-inning distance to pick up a win. He gave up just three hits against the Hawks, allowed no walks and struck out four in the 4-0 victory. He is now 4-1 on the season with a miniscule 0.78 ERA. The former Southwestern JC player has allowed only 25 hits in 46 innings pitched, and has walked just three batters on the season.
Three teams in PacWest baseball made strides in the conference standings by each winning their 4-game series. Biola University made up the most ground with a sweep of Academy of Art, while Azusa Pacific won three of four from Fresno Pacific, as did Concordia against Holy Names. The Golden Eagles won one of the games behind another complete game pitching performance from O’Sullivan.
The PacWest Team of the Week is the Biola Eagles. Entering the series with Academy of Art, the Eagles were looking at a 2-6 record and in a small hole at least in their fight for one of four PacWest Championship tournament slots in May. After four straight victories against the Urban Knights they have moved to 6-6 and into fourth place in the conference standings. The Eagles got the bats going, scoring 38 runs in the series and notching 49 hits—including nine home runs. Oscar Serratos, Noah Ruiz and Duncan Wyatt had two home runs apiece, and Wyatt drove in nine runs. Serratos hit .533 in the series, and Gilbert Lopez struck out ten batters in five innings of work to lead the pitching staff.
The first-ever PacWest Championship baseball tournament more than a month away on May 10-12 in Fresno. The standings currently look like this, with conference records; (1) Azusa Pacific 12-4, (2) UH-Hilo 8-5, (3) Concordia 6-5, (4) Biola 6-6, (5) Point Loma 4-4, (6) Fresno Pacific 5-6, (7) Holy Names 5-7, (8) HPU 6-9, (9) Academy of Art 3-9.
Fresno Pacific’s Andrew Valdez had a monster series at Azusa Pacific, hitting .625 (10-16) with three home runs. From the other dugout, APU’s Oscar Lopez hit .538 with a pair of home runs and six RBI. HPU’s Tejean Smith hit .500 in the Sharks’ three games against the Vulcans. Travis Turney (ART U) hit .438 against Biola with three doubles. Esai Santos hit two home runs for Holy Names and slashed the ball at a .438 clip in four games. Michael Dixon (Concordia) hit two home runs.
UH-Hilo’s Bryce Tweedt drove in eight runs in just three games against the Sharks. Concordia’s Brett Finnel pitched seven innings of shutout ball, did not walk a batter and fanned six in a win over Holy Names. HNU’s Harry Tooze gave up just one hit through six innings and struck out six (without any walks) in a no decision against CUI. APU’s Korey Shepard struck out 10 Sunbirds in 5.2 innings and did not give up a run. Mitch Benson earned HNU’s lone win the series with Concordia by tossing seven innings and allowing only three hits, one run and he struck out seven.
The calendar is clean this week until the weekend, when a foursome of four-game series fill the slate. UH-Hilo will travel to Holy Names for a Friday-Saturday series, same for HPU at Fresno Pacific and Academy of Art at Concordia. Point Loma and Azusa Pacific will play four, playing two at Azusa on Friday and two in San Diego on Saturday.
The PacWest has three teams in the top five in today’s NCBWA West Region poll, and Concordia makes an appearance in the tenth spot. Here is the March 27 list; (1) CS San Bernardino 20-6, (2) Azusa Pacific 19-11, (3) CS Monterey Bay 18-9, (4) Hawai’i Hilo 17-7, (5) Point Loma 16-8, (6) Cal Poly Pomona 15-9, (7) Chico State 12-8, (8) CS Dominguez Hills 12-10, (9) Stanislaus State 16-14, (10) Concordia 11-11. RV—Western Oregon 12-8, San Francisco State 13-10, Northwest Nazarene 15-19.