WAIPAHU, Hawaii — It was as close as it could be in Sunday's final game, but Hawaii Pacific was able to eek out a doubleheader sweep with a walk-off win in the nightcap and complete a four-game Pacific West Conference baseball series sweep of Academy of Art University, 8-4 and 2-1 at Hans L'Orange Park.
 
The Urban Knights (7-35, 4-24 PacWest) tied game two on the first pitch that followed a rain delay in the sixth inning, but they left the go-ahead run on third twice in a row in the late innings before succumbing. The two teams battled rain, humidity and overcast skies all day and were able to squeeze in 16 innings of baseball despite three separate rain delays of no more than 10 minutes each.
 
Junior shortstop Tyler Strawn went 2-for-4 in both games and had two RBIs and a run scored. Sophomore right fielder Daniel Gutierrez pushed his hitting streak to five games with hits in both contests. Junior center fielder Joseph Marchini extended his hitting streak to five games in the opener but saw it end in the nightcap. ART U had 18 total hits in the doubleheader.
 
GAME ONE
 
Hawaii Pacific (27-20, 17-15 PacWest) got back to its two-out rallying ways of Saturday in game one, scoring their first seven runs with two outs in the inning. A five-run first inning staked the Sharks to a big early lead. They had four consecutive two-out RBI singles in the first inning from their six through nine hitters.
 
Again in the third inning, a two-run, two-out RBI single pushed the Sharks' lead to 7-0 and made it 19 straight runs scored with two outs dating to Saturday's game two. Academy of Art sophomore starting pitcher Alexander Kuisel (0-4) allowed eight runs on 12 hits and two walks in six innings pitched.
 
HPU's starting pitching was solid for a second straight day. Brandon Van Stone (3-4) threw seven innings without allowing an earned run (one unearned) while scattering five hits and only walking one. The Sharks' bullpen allowed most of the damage, giving up three runs six hits and a wild pitch in two innings of work.
 
ART U got things going in the eighth with back-to-back RBI base hits from Marchini and Strawn. Gutierrez hit a two-out triple in the ninth inning and later scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-4.
 

GAME TWO
 
Sophomore starting pitcher Josh Lopez came to play in the second game, throwing his longest outing of the season (6 1/3 innings) and matching out-for-out the strong starting pitching that HPU had relied on all series. He held the Sharks scoreless for 4 1/3 innings before they finally got their first run on a single, stolen base, passed ball and another single back at the pitcher, making it 1-0.
 
A rain delay tried to shut down the Urban Knights' comeback momentum in the next half inning after junior left fielder Greg Ivory led off the sixth with a walk and was moved to second by a Marchini sacrifice bunt. The rain only paused the game for 10 minutes though, and on the very first pitch of the resumption Strawn drove a single to right to score Ivory and tie the game at 1-1.
 
The Urban Knights would leave the bases loaded in the sixth after a strikeout ended the inning. Lopez escaped the bottom of the sixth with a double play, stranding HPU's own go-ahead run at third. But ART U again left the go-ahead run at third in the top of the seventh with a strikeout ending the inning.
 
Hawaii Pacific finally broke through, getting a leadoff single from Codey Ellenwood. A one-out single from James Carraway moved Ellenwood to second. Thomas nearly got out of a jam again with a double play, but a missed tag at second and an errant throw to first allwed Ellenwood to score the winning run.
 
Academy of Art next ends its season by traveling to the big island of Hawaii for a four-game series at the University of Hawaii at Hilo on Wednesday and Thursday.