In a whirl series, Hawaii pitchers once again dazed Cal State Northridge in Sunday’s 9-1 victory at Les Murakami Stadium.
A crowd of 1,790 saw the Rainbow Warriors complete a sweep of the three-game series and extend their winning streak to eight, the longest since the 2022 season. The ’Bows are 29-15 and 12-9 in the Big West.
The Matadors entered the series hitting .292 and averaging 7.6 runs per game. But in the three games, they batted 16-for 95 (.168) and scored two earned runs.
In Friday’s opener, UH reliever Alex Giroux pitched five perfect innings. On Saturday, Randy Abshier allowed one hit in seven innings. Then in Sunday’s series finale, Harrison Bodendorf, who did not allow a hit in the first 4 2/3 innings, collaborated with Connor Harrison and Brayden Marx on a seven-hitter. With input from pitching coach Keith Zuniga, left-handed Bodendorf relied on a mix of fastballs, changeups and sliders.
“Hitters looked like they were guessing at times, which helped because even if I missed my spot, they were kind of off balance and didn’t hit it too good,” said Bodendorf, who allowed four hits and a run in 52⁄3 innings.
Of the sophomore, UH head coach Rich Hill said, “I think that’s his best performance since he’s been a Rainbow. He was great. He held his velocity. He just had command of the strike zone. When he’s able to pitch inside and spot that fastball, it just makes his changeup more effective, and that’s the key to him. He threw a couple good sliders against lefties, which was really good to see.”
With UH ahead 5-1 in the sixth and runners at first and second, CSUN’s Andrew Gauna appeared to fly out to center for the third out. But that play was canceled when one umpire said Bodendorf committed a balk and another ruled he took too long to pitch. It was decided Bodendorf committed the pitch-clock violation on the 3-2 count, and Gauna was awarded a fourth ball to load the bases.
Connor Harrison then was summoned for his UH-record 69th career relief appearance. CSUN’s Jarren Sanderson hit a drive over the fence in right field for what first-base umpire Gary Gilman ruled to be a game-tying grand slam. But after UH coach Rich Hill vehemently protested that the ball sailed to the right of the foul pole, the four umpires gathered. The umpires then overturned the call, declaring it was a foul ball to negate the grand slam.
“Whatever the ump called, that’s the call I’m going to stick with,” said right fielder Naighel Ali‘i Calderon, who straddled the line. “I definitely think it went foul because I didn’t hear it hit the pole. I was on the line and I was going to make the jump when I saw it go foul.”
“I think they got the reverse home run right,” Hill said, an argument supported by UH fans who were in a special section near the right-field line. “All the (fans in the) Heineken Hangout, as we know, their vision is really clear right about the seventh inning, or whatever. They had it all foul ball, and so did Naighel. I think they got it right.”
CSUN coach Eddie Cornejo voiced the dissenting argument. “The calls are the calls, you can’t control that,” Cornejo said. “The umpire was guessing, kind of like how he was guessing all day. And the home plate umpire said he had it. All the others said they had it, too. So they corrected themselves, and got the call right. That’s what they told me.”
Sanderson then struck out to end the threat.
But the controversy became moot when the ’Bows scored four runs in the seventh, with two coming on Austin Machado’s fourth home run of the season.
“I saw the slider up, and luckily it went out,” Machado said. “I’m grateful for that.”
UH third baseman Elijah Ickes went 3-for-3, and second baseman Jake Tsukada had three hits, scored two runs and drove in two.
Harrison did not allow a run in 11⁄3 innings. Of setting the appearance record for a reliever, Harrison said, “it’s just a testament to the trust Coach Hill has in me. And the trust (last year’s pitching coach Mathew) Troup and Zuni (pitching coach Keith Zuniga) had in me. And being healthy enough every year to have multiple appearances in a weekend.”
BIG WEST BASEBALL
Conference Overall
W L Pct. GB W L
UCSB 17 4 .810 — 31 12
UC Irvine 15 6 .714 2 34 10
Cal Poly 17 7 .708 11
2 28 17
CS Northridge 14 7 .667 3 28 17
Hawaii 12 9 .571 5 29 15
UCSD 13 11 .542 51
2 26 19
!-LBSU 8 13 .381 9 21 22
UC Davis 7 14 .333 10 21 24
CS Bakersfield 7 17 .292 111
2 13 32
UC Riverside 5 16 .238 12 14 28
CS Fullerton 5 16 .238 12 14 30
!-does not include one tie
Sunday
Hawaii 9, CS Northridge 1
UC Riverside 3, Cal State Bakersfield 0
UC Riverside 3, Cal State Bakersfield 0
UC Davis 4, Long Beach State 3
Cal Poly 11, UC Irvine 2
UC Santa Barbara 12, UC San Diego 3
x-UCLA 11, Cal State Fullerton 4
Today
x-Cal State Bakersfield at California Baptist
x-Loyola Marymount at UC Riverside
Tuesday
x-Pepperdine at UC Santa Barbara
x-Cal Poly at Santa Clara
x-UC San Diego at USD
x-UCLA at UC Irvine
x-Cal State Fullerton at Loyola Marymount
x-USC at Long Beach State
Thursday
UC Riverside at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m.
x-non-conference
HAWAII 9, CAL STATE
NORTHRIDGE 1
MATADORS AB R H BI BB SO
Neighbors 3b 1 0 0 0 1 0
Gonzalez ph/3b 3 0 2 0 0 0
Le ss 4 0 1 0 0 0
Simons cf 4 1 1 0 0 1
Fitzer dh 3 0 1 0 0 1
Griffin c 4 0 1 1 0 1
Gauna rf 2 0 0 0 1 1
Sanderson lf 3 0 0 0 0 2
Wilkinson ph 1 0 0 0 0 0
Sojka lf 0 0 0 0 0 0
Barraza 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0
Sakaino 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1
TOTALS 33 1 7 1 2 7
RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO
J. Donahue ss 3 1 0 0 2 1
Tsukada 2b 5 2 3 2 0 0
Machado dh 5 2 2 2 0 1
K. Donahue 1b 5 1 2 0 0 0
Duarte c 4 0 2 1 1 1
Miura cf 3 1 1 2 0 0
Calderon lf/rf 4 0 1 0 0 1
Rimmer rf 1 0 0 0 0 0
Zeigler-Namoa ph/lf2 1 1 0 1 0
Nahaku pr/lf 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ickes 3b 3 1 3 1 0 0
TOTALS 35 9 15 8 4 4
CSUN (28-17, 14-7) 000 001 000 — 1 7 0
Hawaii (29-15, 12-9) 101 300 40x — 9 15 0
DP–CSUN 2. LOB–CSUN 10, Hawaii 8.
2B–Miura, Ickes. HR—Machado. SH—Le.
SF—Miura. CS—Ickes. HBP—Fitzer, Gauna,
Ickes.
CS NORTHRIDGE IP H R ER BB SO
Vose (L, 2-1) 11
3 5 1 1 0 0
Wentz 12
3 3 4 4 2 2
Allen-Fox 3 4 2 2 0 0
Hall 2
3 3 2 2 2 0
Gutierrez 1 0 0 0 0 1
Romero 1
3 0 0 0 0 1
HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO
Bodendorf (W, 3-3) 52
3 4 1 1 2 6
Harrison 11
3 2 0 0 0 1
Marx 2 1 0 0 0 0
Wentz faced 4 batters in the 4th
Allen-Fox faced 2 batters in the 7th
Harrison faced 2 batters in the 8th
WP—Wentz 3. HBP–by Bodendorf (Fitzer);
by Wentz (Ickes); by Marx (Gauna). Umpires—(Plate): Rob McKinley. (First): Gary
Gilman. (Second): Jeff Cluff. (Third): Travis
Roberts. T—3:04. A–3,199.
