Cooper and Rainbows subdue Wichita State

Les Murakami Stadium is quickly bringing the best out of Hawaii junior pitcher Matt Cooper.

Cooper extended his scoreless streak to 162⁄3 innings and Pi‘ikea Kitamura had two hits and drove in three runs in Hawaii’s 7-0 shutout of Wichita State on Saturday night.

Cooper (2-2) worked 72⁄3 scoreless innings and struck out a career-high 10 in front of a crowd of 2,390. In five outings at home this year, Cooper has allowed just one run in 282⁄3 innings with three walks and 24 strikeouts.

"It’s special to pitch at home in front of these fans," Cooper said. "It’s our first series win and now we can try and come get one (today) and win four out of five."

Hawaii (5-16) won for the fourth time in its last five games and has won eight of its last 10 against Wichita State (12-11), which is 1-6 in its last seven.

Cooper and senior Jon Flinn, who recorded the final four outs, combined for UH’s second shutout this season.

"(Cooper) did what had to be done because we had him and Flinn that we were going to go to until they were gassed and then pitch everyone else (today)," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "It was really a team victory, with 11 hits and seven runs — we put pressure on them all night."

Wichita State starter Kris Gardner (1-3) lasted a season-low three innings as Hawaii roughed him up for five hits and three runs.

Conner George extended his hitting streak to five games with an RBI single in the first, and Stephen Ventimilia and Kitamura hit consecutive two-out RBI doubles in the second for a 3-0 lead.

George’s RBI was his eighth in the series.

"Two-out hitting is going to win us a lot more games when we do things like that," Kitamura said. "Those are the runs that are going to put teams away."

The senior third baseman put the game away in the eighth with a two-out single that cleared the bases.

Kitamura drove in two runs on the base hit and got caught in a rundown between first and second, allowing Ventimilia to score from first before Kitamura was tagged out.

"I remember in the Gonzaga series against Marco (Gonzales), I didn’t take a turn when there was a close play with Andre (Real) at home," Kitamura said. "I knew this time with two outs I wanted to get out there and make sure we tacked on that extra run."

After scoring 22 runs in its first 12 home games, Hawaii has matched that total in four games against the Shockers.

Ventimilia finished 2-for-4 with a double, walk, stolen base and three runs and Trevor Podratz went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored before he was lifted for a pinch runner in the eighth.

The Rainbows had 11 hits on Saturday and 37 total in the series to raise their batting average 14 points to .232.

"We’re getting enough at-bats now to see who is right-handed pitching or left-handed pitching or who is not hitting and we’re seeing guys like Kaeo (Aliviado) and Marc (Flores) start to find their swings and hits against righties or lefties," Trapasso said.

"Podratz has hit a few balls hard, Stephen has been a key for us getting on base and making things happen … and Connor has basically won a job and continues to get hits with guys in scoring position."

Cooper threw 84 of his 119 pitches for strikes and left with two outs in the eighth after a close play at first.

Casey Gillaspie hit a grounder in the hole between first and second that was fielded by Ventimilia. Cooper had to cover at first for Flores and the umpire ruled the throw took him off the base.

Both Cooper and Trapasso argued the call and all three umpires met before ruling him safe.

Flinn replaced Cooper and got Johnny Coy, who had four hits in WSU’s win on Friday, to ground into a fielder’s choice to shortstop to end the inning.

"I was pretty bummed I didn’t get the call because I had him out," Cooper said. "I wanted to finish it, but it’s part of the game."

Hawaii added to its lead in the fifth when Flores smacked Hawaii’s fourth double of the game to center. Designated hitter Jerry Kleman, playing for the first time in the series, bounced a two-out infield hit off the glove of T.J. McGreevy, allowing Flores to score to push UH’s lead to 4-0.

Junior Kaden Kamoe, who was high school teammates with Aliviado at Saint Louis, got his first start for the Rainbows in left field and was 0-for-3, narrowly missing an infield hit in the sixth on a close play at first.

He was lifted for Adam Hurley as a defensive replacement in the eighth, and Hurley was tested immediately, making a diving catch to rob Joe Haddox of a base hit for the first out.