Bows’ win caps sweet sweep over Dirtbags

The number didn’t please Mike Trapasso as much as the circumstances surrounding it.

Trapasso’s 400th win as Hawaii’s head baseball coach came Sunday at Blair Field, where the Rainbow Warriors became the first team to sweep Long Beach State at home in Big West play since 2010.

Stephen Ventimilia went 2-for-3 with two runs, two RBIs and three stolen bases and Jarrett Arakawa didn’t allow a run in a season-high six innings to pitch Hawaii to a 6-2 win in Long Beach, Calif.

Hawaii (18-26, 9-9), which was 2-12 away from Les Murakami Stadium entering the series, earned its first road series sweep in conference play since 2006 as a member of the Western Athletic Conference.

The ‘Bows dealt a fatal blow to the NCAA at-large hopes of the Dirtbags (23-20, 8-10), who were 18-7 at home before playing Hawaii.

"It’s fun when you play well and you actually have something to show for it, especially when you do it on the road against a good team," said Trapasso, who is 400-386 (.509) in his 14th season. "I’m really happy for our kids. They played really well all weekend and we’ve been playing really well for the last few weeks."

Hawaii is technically still in the Big West race, trailing a trio of co-leaders by 31⁄2 games.

The ‘Bows will stay on the road to play three times at last-place UC Riverside (13-32, 2-13) before ending conference play at home hosting Cal State Fullerton (26-20, 11-4), one of three teams tied for first.

Arakawa (3-3) ended a three-game losing streak with a solid 71-pitch effort. He scattered six hits and escaped a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the sixth inning with a strikeout and a double play.

He went out to the mound to warm up for the seventh inning but after a few warm-up pitches, was pulled from the game.

"I tell you what, from about the second inning to the sixth, that was the best he’s thrown all year for a good four-inning stretch," Trapasso said. "He just said with the long (top of the seventh) inning and the long wait, (the shoulder) tightened up on him."

Senior Andrew Jones earned a three-inning save, allowing a two-out RBI single in the seventh inning and a sacrifice fly in the ninth for the only two Long Beach State runs.

Hawaii held the Dirtbags to six runs over the entire series and dropped its team ERA under four at 3.90.

"Obviously it all starts with your starters giving you seven innings," Trapasso said. "If your starters can give you seven and limit Jones and (Torres-Costa) to one-inning stints, they could do that all three days of the series."

Arakawa was given a 3-0 lead before he stepped foot on the mound as Hawaii broke out early against LBSU starter Tanner Brown (4-3).

Ventimilia drew a leadoff walk and singles by Alan Baldwin and Kaeo Aliviado loaded the bases with nobody out.

Alex Sawelson drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly and Eric Ramirez and Marcus Doi added back-to-back singles for a three-run lead.

Ramirez finished 3-for-5 and Doi doubled and scored a run in the sixth inning to push UH’s lead to 5-0.

Aliviado finished with two hits and Jacob Sheldon-Collins tripled and scored in the eighth inning after Jones gave up Hawaii’s first run allowed in 18 innings.

Freshman Jonathan Weeks started all three games at third base and didn’t have a hit after his two RBI singles in Friday’s win, but he didn’t commit an error.

He hadn’t started a game at third before this week since Feb. 21.

"It was a good weekend for him," Trapasso said. "He played errorless third base and not only that, but made a couple of stellar plays. The thing about Johnny is he’s not scared. He’s a freshman, but he’s going to compete and give you everything he’s got."