There were big series wins all across the board in PacWest baseball last week. Point Loma took three of four from Azusa Pacific and Fresno Pacific swept Hawaii Pacific. But Holy Names gets the nod for Team of the Week with their four wins over previously second place Hawaii Hilo. FPU’s Tommy Rover is the Player of the Week after hitting .571 and driving home six runs against the Sharks, and Academy of Art’s Brian Kraft wins a crowded field for Pitcher of the Week after throwing a no-hitter against Concordia.

2023 Results/Schedule
2023 Standings
2023 Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Fresno Pacific’s Tommy Rover, 2B, Soph., Brentwood, Calif.                                                        
Fresno Pacific’s Tommy Rover played a large role in the Sunbirds’ four-game sweep of Hawaii Pacific. Rover hit .571 (8-for-14) with five runs scored, six RBI, two doubles and three walks. In Saturday's doubleheader, he was 6-for-7 on the day including a 4-for-4 game in the opener. He drove in three runs in that game, doubling home all three when the bases were juiced. The second-year Sunbird is now hitting .333 on the year with 16 RBI.
 
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art’s Brian Kraft, LHP, Soph., San Diego, Calif.                                                        
Academy of Art left-hander Brian Kraft found a grand way to pick up his first win of the season. Kraft no-hit Concordia in a seven-inning contest, fanning a career-high 10 batters during the 8-1 win. The San Diego native struck out four of the final five batters he faced to notch the win to improve to 1-2 on the season. He walked four Golden Eagle batters and allowed one run on the day in the 8-1 Urban Knights victory. The 6-foot-4 southpaw is a sophomore transfer from Pacific University (D-III).

HAWKS PROVIDE STUNNER IN SWEEP OF VULCANS: The PacWest Team of the Week is the HOLY NAMES HAWKS. HNU climbed right into the thick of the race for PacWest Championship tournament slots with four wins over Hawaii Hilo, who has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the NCAA West Region this spring. The Hawks improved to 19-12 overall and to 9-7 in the PacWest with the victories at the College of Alameda. Holy Names won all four games by just one run (4-3, 6-5, 7-6, 5-4). Esai Santos swung a hot bat, hitting .533 (8-for-15) with seven runs scored, four RBI two doubles and three home runs. Jesus Hernandez hit .455 in the four contests. The Hawks have now won five games in a row and at 9-7 are in the coveted fourth place spot, one half-game ahead of Concordia (8-7).

RACE HEATS UP: The first-ever PacWest Championship baseball tournament is bit away on May 10-12 in Fresno, but it’s never too early to take a look at the conference standings and project who the top four might be for the double elimination tournament. The standings currently look like this, with conference records listed. (1) Azusa Pacific 13-7, (2) Fresno Pacific 9-6, (3) Point Loma 7-5, (4) Holy Names 9-7, (5) Concordia 8-7, (6) Biola 6-6, (7) Hawaii Hilo 8-9, (8) Hawaii Pacific 6-13, (9) Academy of Art 5-11.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Point Loma won a huge series with Azusa Pacific, matching the top two teams in the region form 2022. The two teams split at Azusa and the Sea Lions then won both games in San Diego. In the fourth game of the series, PLNU’s Ray Cebulski pitched a seven-inning one hitter, fanning five while not walking a batter for the 7-0 win in front of a large sun-splashed crowd of 322…Fresno Pacific got the sweep over Hawaii Pacific in Fresno, moving up into second place. Justin Fuson closed out the series during a 2-1 Sunbird win with seven innings of complete game work, scattering six hits while not walking a batter and fanning three…Academy of Art had more than one pitching gem against Concordia (see Brian Kraft above). Devan Quesada went six innings without giving up a run, allowing just three hits and he struck out five in a no-decision…More good pitching—FPU’s Garrett Cooper went eight innings, allowed six hits, one earned run and fanned nine in a win over HPU…Brett Finnel (CUI)—seven innings, five hits, one earned run, eight strikeouts for win against ART U…PLNU’s Kaden Lewis—seven innings, six hits, one run, eight K’s…There was offense too. Liam Rizzo (ART U) hit .471…Point Loma’s Scott Anderson hit .474 with three doubles…Jake Entrekin of the Sea Lions came in at .462 with four RBI, a double and a home run…Andrew Valdez of FPU drove in six runs with a double and home run...Concordia's Nathan Benefeito hit a 3-run home run to help the Golden Eagles rally for a 6-4 win, after trailing 4-0.

BUSY WEEK ON TAP AS SCHEDULE HEATS UP: Hawaii Hilo is at Academy of Art for a midweek series, same for Hawaii Pacific at Holy Names. The southern California teams will split home and away games with Point Loma taking on Biola and Azusa Pacific will battle with Concordia. 

HAWKS MAKE FIRST APPEARANCE IN REGIONAL POLL: Holy Names makes their first-ever appearance in the NCBWA Division II West Region poll, giving the PacWest four teams on the list. Here is today’s poll (April 3). 1. CS San Bernardino (12 first place votes) 23-8, 2. CS Monterey Bay 18-9, 3. Point Loma (1 first place vote) 19-9, 4. Azusa Pacific 20-14, 5. Cal Poly Pomona 18-11, 6. Chico State 14-10, T7. CS Dominguez Hills 15-13, T7. Hawaii Hilo 17-11, 9. Holy Names 19-12, 10. Western Oregon 15-9. RV—San Francisco State 16-11, Stanislaus State 17-15, Fresno Pacific 15-15.