WAIPAHU, Hawaii – In a return to his home state, Justice Yamashita put on a pitching clinic, tossing seven innings, allowing only two runs, and striking out eight batters as the Saints rolled to a 9-2 series opening win.
 
Hawaii Pacific scored their only two runs of the game in the opening frame on an RBI single to short, and a sac-fly. Yamashita shut down the bats of Hawaii Pacific for the next six innings, before Ryan Driscoll shut the door with three strikeouts in the final two outs. Meanwhile, the Saints took advantage of miscues from the Sharks, along with timely hitting to power to a 9-2 victory.
 
Bryant Nakagawa drove in the first run for the Saints in the second inning with an RBI single through the right side. Saint Martin's capitalized on a wild pitch that allowed Cody Chavis to score to tie the game in the fourth. SMU later took the lead on a double-play groundout that brought home Reid Little.
 
Chavis drove in another run in the fifth with an RBI double to make it a 4-2 ball game. The Saints broke open the lead in the eighth, scoring three runs on wild pitch, and a bases-loaded walk to Aaron Renaud made it an 8-2 game.
 
Saint Martin's capped off the night with a Nakagawa double down the right field line, leading to Austin Schaler scoring on the play with an error.
 
Games two and three of the five-game series take place tomorrow, Saturday Feb. 19 starting at 4:00 PM. Live stats and video will be available on smusaints.com.