MESA, Ariz. - The Red Hawks took down the Eagles in the opening game of the Cal Pac tournament by a score of 14-6.
The Red Hawks were able to get quality pitching performances by starter Connor Caporale and reliever Eddie Avalos who was credited with the win. Both righties allowed a combined 6 earned runs on 10 hits. The Red Hawks offense was on fire as they scored 14 runs on 17 hits. All-Conference Honorable Mention, Logan Gomes led the offensive attack by tallying a team with 4 hits and driving in two runs, including a homerun to extend the single season record to 13 and the career record to 26. Centerfielder, Senituli Taufahema had quite the day at the plate as he recorded 3 hits and drove in 4 runs. Followed by two hit performances by Micah Kele, Kade Kupihea, and Titus Sato.
The Red Hawks exploded in the top half of the seventh inning by scoring 8 runs on 6 hits and 1 ERAU error. The Red Hawks trailed 3-5 up until this point before sending 13 Red Hawks to the plate. The inning was highlighted by an RBI double by Kele and RBI singles by Kupihea and Sato.
Game three of the Cal Pac tournament featured the battle of the Red Hawks. Simpson, coming off a convincing win against ERAU in game 1 looked to continue their success against the #15 in the nation and #1 seeded Ben U. After a back and forth game, Simpson refused to go away after trailing at three different points in the game. Starter Eric Winchester threw 5 1/3 innings while allowing only two earned runs. Simpson's bullpen locked down the last 3 2/3 of the game by the combined efforts of Gabriel Rojas and Dylan Cabral who was credited with the win. The Red Hawks offense proved lethal in the last two innings of the game as timely hits paved the way for a 3 run eighth and 5 run 9th inning. The offense was highlighted by Micah Kele, Kade Kupihea, and Braxton King who all collected two hits each. Outfielder, Brady Meeds had the big swing in the top half of the eighth inning when he tied the game at 5 after a two-run homerun. Later in that inning, Braxton King had a clutch go-ahead RBI single to put SU on top 6-5. However, Ben U's two run bottom half of the eighth inning set the stage for the SU comeback in the top half of the ninth. Back-to-back walks from Senituli Taufahema and Logan Gomes set the stage for shortstop Micah Kele. Kele singled in the tying run and Kupihea came up clutch by driving home the go-ahead run with two outs. But the nail in the coffin was delivered by third baseman Braxton King, who had a bases-clearing double to put SU up four runs heading into the last half of the ninth where they closed the game out by a score of 11-8.
Simpson, who now sits at 2-0 to start the tournament, will now face UAV at 10 AM tomorrow in the winners bracket.
