WAIPAHU, Hawaii- It took a few turns through the lineup and a trio of deficits before the bats woke up for the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (6-6 overall, 2-4 PacWest) as they salvaged a split with the Chaminade Silverswords (9-10 overall, 2-2 PacWest) Friday evening at Patsy T. Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park.

In the first of four double-headers and eight games on the Islands this week, Fresno Pacific had to fall into deficits before the offense attempted to recover the lost ground.

The game one starter for Fresno Pacific, Connor Semone, had to deal with miscues in the field as well.

After zeroes for the first inning and a half, Chaminade capitalized on two FPU errors in the bottom of the second to push across three runs, two of which were unearned.

Semone escaped further damage by inducing an inning ending double play.

Chaminade added two more in the third to take a 5-0 lead.

Andrew Valdez belted a homer over the left field fence to get FPU on the board in the fourth.

Valdez reached on an error in the sixth but scored on Josh Pernetti's RBI double to pull within three.

The 'Birds got closer in the seventh as Donte Valdez walked and moved to second on Justin Tiger's line drive single into right field.

After a Jordan Smith sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch brough Donte Valdez home to make it a 5-3 game.

Gabe Henderson ripped an RBI single into left field to make it a one run game in the same at-bat.

That was enough to chase Chaminade's starter from the game with the tying run on first.

The 'Birds added another run on base but left two stranded in the inning, despite cutting the deficit to 5-4.

Chaminade scored five runs in response to reset the lead to 10-4 heading into the 8^th.

The Sunbirds fought back in the top of the ninth, capitalizing on a series of walks before Trent Mallonee's two-run single made it 10-6.

Austin Cappas grounded out to bring home Pernetti, pulling FPU back within three.

But that's as close as FPU would get in a 10-7 loss to start the trip.

The 'Birds immediately found themselves down after the first trips to the plate as Chaminade tallied four runs in the bottom of the first.

FPU responded in the top of the second behind a one-out double from Donte Valdez. Tiger singled to put runners on the corners and Chris Clement singled home Valdez.

The Sunbirds loaded the bases before Henderson drove in two with a single into center, cutting the difference to just one run.

Fresno Pacific duplicated the three-run inning in the third after a leadoff walk to Pernetti.

Griffith Fenn doubled to put runners on second and third and Tiger singled in Pernetti.

The 'Birds plated Fenn after a dropped throw at first base, taking a 5-4 lead.

Tiger came around on a wild pitch to make it 6-4.

But Chaminade tallied another three runs in the bottom of the fourth, regaining the advantage at 7-6.

Donte Valdez answered right back in the top of the fifth with a solo homer to tie the game at 7.

After a pitching change, the Sunbirds drew three walks to load the bases before Andrew Valdez cleared the bases with a triple.

FPU capitalized on a walk in the sixth to Tiger. After he stole second, Clement singled him in to extend the lead to 11-7.

Mallonee doubled to start the seventh and the Sunbirds stole multiple bases in the inning causing a string of miscues by Chaminade which led to three more runs for FPU.

The Sunbirds loaded the bases again in the inning, and a walk forced in the 15^th run of the game.

Riley Creech worked two scoreless innings to earn the save.

Gino Helmuth earned the win after five innings on the bump.

Donte Valdez, Tiger, and Clement provided a string of Sunbirds in the bottom half of the lineup that linked together multi-hit games while Mallonee also provided knocks from the leadoff spot.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for FPU and a four-game winning streak for Chaminade.

Fresno Pacific and Chaminade wrap up the series on Saturday in Honolulu beginning at 3 p.m. Pacific. (1 p.m. HST time).

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