Hawaii Pacific University’s Jack O’Brien earns conference honor

Hawaii Pacific baseball”s Jack O’Brien was named the Pacific West Conference Pitcher of the Week after a sparkling outing in Friday’s season opener.

The 6-foot-4 righty was dominant to open the year for the Sharks (1-0), pitching a perfect game and shutting down Providence Christian 10-0 in seven innings at Hans L’Orange Park.

O’Brien set down 21 straight batters, with 10 strikeouts on 80 pitches to clinch just the 28th perfect game in NCAA Division II history.

O’Brien’s effort was the second perfect game in Sharks history (Ryan Evans, 1999), making Hawaii Pacific the first D-II institution to have two perfect games since record-keeping first started in 1957.

HPU will next host Saint Martin’s in a five-game series at Hans L’Orange Park. Friday’s series opener is scheduled for 5 p.m.