FRESNO, Calif.  – The Fresno Pacific University baseball team picked up a pair of PacWest Conference victories on Friday, sweeping a doubleheader from Holy Names at FPU Diamond. The Sunbirds won a 14-11 slugfest in the series opener before taking the nightcap by a final of 7-4.  

"It's very hard to sweep a doubleheader from anyone, so it was nice to see us get a couple of wins today," head coach Oscar Hirschkorn said. "We had good and bad moments throughout the day, but we did enough to win." 

A six-run bottom of the eighth lifted the Sunbirds to a victory in the opener, as the Blue and Orange were able to belt out a season-high in runs scored. In all, FPU and HNU combined for 32 hits, marking one of the most offensive games in the PacWest this season.

Braden Frankfort and Hunter Villanueva each went deep, with the latter plating four runs on one swing. The top three in the FPU order (Michael Warkentin, Eddie Sievers, Baron Bower) provided a spark, combining for ten base hits and seven runs.

Frankfort, Villanueva and Joey Gallegos each added a pair of base hits to provide reliever Jonathan Molina with his first victory of the season. Starter Trent Ashford allowed four runs over five innings before Carson Schellenberg survived a rough sixth on the mound.

Molina gave the home nine two innings of work before giving way to Tanner Irwin for the save, but three straight two-out walks hastened his exit from the ballgame. Lefthander Nic Garcia came on for just two pitches but sealed the victory after inducing an infield pop-up.

Holy Names was led offensively by leftfielder Paul Kennedy's 4-for-5 effort at the plate, while Evan Maecker and Nick Snyder each contributed a home run. Reliever Kyle Scott took the loss after being on the wrong end of the Sunbird eighth, dropping him to 1-4 on the season.

FPU started the scoring in the nightcap, homering in consecutive innings to carry a 5-0 lead into the fourth, when the Hawks coupled two walks with a pair of hits to score their first two runs of the contest. The Sunbirds got both runs back in the home half after Bower and Frankfort each drove in a run with double to the gap.

Holy Names brought two more runners home in the top of the ninth, and the Sunbirds again gave the ball to Garcia for the save. He delivered for the second time, recording his second save of the day with another quick outing.

Garcia preserved the win for Matt Bergandi, who racked up nine strikeouts over seven innings in the first start of his career. Zach Fleeman bridged the gap between Bergandi and Garcia, allowing just one hit over 1.2 chapters on the hill.

Fresno Pacific and Holy Names are set to wrap up the series with another doubleheader on Saturday, with first pitch from FPU Diamond slated for 12:00 p.m. The Sunbirds will honor their ten seniors between games, and the series finale is scheduled for seven innings.