Friday, April 9, 1999
HPU playing for
postseason berth
With record-breaker Gabe
By Jerry Campany
Gerhardt leading the way, the
Sea Warriors need wins to
impress the committee
Special to the Star-BulletinHawaii Pacific outfielder Gabe Gerhardt's most meaningful moment in baseball came outside of the white lines.
Gerhardt leads the Sea Warriors in eight hitting categories and has already broken two single-season school records -- triples with 7 and runs batted in with 44.
But for all his accomplishments in the batter's box, his greatest feeling came in the on-deck circle before his first at-bat in a 3-1 loss to Hawaii in the Rainbow Baseball Tournament last month.
Gerhardt had never played in front of anything close to the 2,648 fans that attended the game, but that didn't spoil the tremendous concentration that has fueled his incredible year. But when he strode to the on-deck circle and saw his father among the many spectators, he almost lost it.
"I was a little nervous, but it is just a game," Gerhardt said. "Standing there and seeing my father in the front row gave me a tremendous feeling of accomplishment. Not just for me, but for him because he worked so hard with me to get me here."
Gerhardt's father, Ross, is a high school baseball coach in California and has used baseball as a way of striking a lifelong friendship with his son. He was excited to see Gerhardt play in such a big game, but tried to persuade him to sit it out beforehand.
"Gabe was sicker than a dog and I didn't want him to play," Ross Gerhardt said. "I knew that he wanted to be out there for me and his teammates, but his love for the game is what really drove him. He just has a ton of heart."
Hawaii Pacific wraps up its regular season with a pair of double headers against Hawaii-Hilo this weekend, and it will be their last chance to impress the eight-member Western Region Baseball Committee.
The 30-10 Sea Warriors need to be judged as one of the top four teams in the western region; they stand on the brink right now. They go into their final series ranked No. 27 in Collegiate Baseball, but more importantly, only two teams from the Western region are ranked ahead of them. Although the NCAA II and Collegiate Baseball are separate entities with separate rankings, their criteria for determining them are nearly the same. But it is still a matter of interpretation.
The committee comes out with its first rankings April 13, after Hawaii Pacific is done with Hilo, and then the Sea Warriors will have to wait and see while the rest of the region wraps up its season.
"We can only win our games and hope we are one of the best four of 31 teams," Hawaii Pacific head coach Allan Sato said. "But winning in Hilo would strengthen our case."
