FOREST GROVE, Ore.- The Pacific Baseball team (3-3) traveled to the Chapman University (1-3) in Southern California and came away with the series victory, taking two of three games from the D3Baseball.com pre-season #7 team in the country.
The 2023 Boxers feature some new faces in the lineup and showed their ability to be more than a slugging team in the series as they stole 19 bases in the three games. Shortstop Ty Yukimoto (Sophomore/ Waipahu, HI) currently tops the NCAA leaderboard in that category with 7 stolen bases in the Boxers first six games, and the team leads the nation with 24 stolen bases in 25 attempts.
Second baseman Drew Thomas (Senior/ Escondido, CA) led the offense with two homeruns and nine RBI on the weekend. On the mound, the Boxer staff allowed 7 earned runs over the three contests against one of the top offenses in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
"We have a lot of respect for Chapman and the program that Coach Laverty has built there," Head Coach Brian Billings said. "We had our hands full and our young men rose to the occasion."
Game 1
Thomas started the weekend with an impressive day at the plate (3-for-4, 7 RBI, 2B, HR) and his 8th inning 3-run homerun gave the Boxers a 6-2 lead. Pacific would go on to score seven more runs to close out the 13-4 series opening victory. Those seven runs came with no extra base hits. The outfield of Dawson Tokishi, CJ Colyer, and Bobby Drayer combined to go 7-for-14 on the day with 3 RBI and 7 runs scored.
On the mound, Cayden Okada (Sophomore/ Waipahu, HI) threw four scoreless innings of two hit ball in relief of starter Kahi Bisho to pick up his first win of the season. The Boxers were without assistant coach Kyle Treadway for the first time this year as he departed to become the head coach at Eastern Oregon University.
"This was an emotional week for our players and coaches," Billings said. "And, to come away with a series win is just what the doctor ordered."
Game 2
Chapman catcher Trent Turquand's 4th inning two-run homerun would be all the Panthers would need to win the second game of the doubleheader Saturday, ultimately winning 3-0. Newcomers Jackson Price (Freshman/ Hillsboro, OR) and Ayden Ruminski(Sophomore/ Centralia College) threw seven combined strong innings, giving up no runs other than Turquand's home run.
Yukimoto and catcher Isaac Lovings (Senior/ Beaverton, OR) led the Boxers with two hits apiece.
Game 3
The Boxer bats came back alive in Game 3 and Will Clark (Senior/ Boise, ID) threw 5 strong innings to earn his first win of the season as Pacific took the rubber match 9-3 on Sunday. Clark allowed no earned runs on the day and relievers Davis Koester, Sage Dunaway and Matt Palmateer closed out the game for the Boxers.
At the plate, Drew Thomas again provided the power, and a lead the Boxers wouldn't relinquish, with his second home run of the weekend to take a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Tyler Quinn (Senior/ Mililani, HI) and JP Lyssenko (Senior/ San Mateo, CA) both added their first homeruns of the season while both CJ Coyler and Ty Yukimoto had impressive 4-for-4 days at the plate.
"We've made it through the pre-season reasonably healthy and we feel well prepared for the Northwest Conference Schedule," Billings said.
Up Next
The Boxers open Northwest Conference play Saturday at Willamette University.
