Hawaii put a convincing end to Oregon’s recent dominance at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Rainbow Warriors tagged Oregon pitchers for eight runs in the first two innings and scored their biggest win over a George Horton-coached Ducks squad with a 10-1 victory on Sunday afternoon.
10 HAWAII
1 OREGON
KEY: UH scores eight runs in first two innings.
NEXT: UH vs. Oregon, 1:05 p.m. Monday, KKEA
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Alex Sawelson went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Jordan Richartz added three hits and drove in two runs as the Rainbows snapped a 13-game skid against the 16th-ranked Ducks (2-1).
UH (1-2) hadn’t beaten Horton’s Oregon teams by more than three runs in 23 previous meetings before Sunday’s 14-hit outburst in front of a solid crowd of 2,367.
"That was a complete game for us and we feel like we have the ability to play that way," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "We played great, not good, but great defense, pitched well and the offense broke out today."
Sawelson, Eric Ramirez and Richartz combined to go 6-for-6 with seven RBIs in the first two innings as UH roughed up Oregon starter Trent Paddon (0-1) for seven runs in an inning of work.
UH loaded the bases with one out in the first when Sawelson, who was 0-for-7 to start the season, battled back from an 0-2 count to rip a two-run single to left to begin the scoring.
"For a lot of us, like me, who are new, the first couple of games were a little jittery," Sawelson said. "But to have the crowd behind you and get comfortable, it feels much better now."
Ramirez and Richartz followed with run-scoring singles and did it again in the second inning as UH led 8-0.
Chayce Ka‘aua added a two-run double in the sixth to get UH into double digits in scoring. UH had scored at least 10 runs in a game just four times over the previous two seasons.
"I’m glad the second half of our lineup was able to pick up the first half. That’s what we’ve got to do," Richartz said.
As good as the offense was, the defense was equally impressive from start to finish.
Oregon had a chance to get out to a quick start with two singles to open the top of the first. But they amounted to nothing as UH shut down the Ducks’ aggressive running game.
Matt Eureste’s leadoff single was erased when Ka‘aua threw him out stealing second and Jakob Goldfarb was gunned down trying to stretch a single into a double by Matt LoCoco in left.
Shortstop Jacob Sheldon-Collins ended Oregon’s sixth inning with a tough catch in foul ground behind third in which he had to reach back and make a play on the ball as he fell to the ground.
He then turned and fired to third to get Goldfarb trying to tag up on the play to end the inning.
Oregon had one more chance to score in the ninth, but left fielder Alan Baldwin threw out Mitchell Tolman trying to score from second on a Shaun Chase single.
"All throughout the fall and early spring, we’ve been really sound defensively," Sheldon-Collins said. "The last two games we’ve come out and haven’t made an error and played the way we know we can play."
Junior L.J. Brewster couldn’t have asked for more from his teammates in supporting him in his first start.
Brewster got extended to 85 pitches through 5 1/3 innings and gave up the one run on five hits with a walk and a strikeout to get his first win in 11 tries against Oregon as a pitcher and third baseman.
"It’s feels good, but what’s more important is to come out (Monday) and get a split," Brewster said. "Going out there in the first inning, they got some hits and I kind of had to settle down after that. The past couple of weeks my changeup wasn’t there, but today it was there and I feel like that was the pitch that I went to when I was in trouble and it got me out of some innings."
Tolman chased Brewster with a single in the sixth to score Eureste. Cody Culp, pitching for the second straight game, came on and got the 6-1 double play to get out of the inning. He finished the game with four strikeouts and earned a save.
"When you put up a big lead, the most important thing after that is strike one when you go back out there and pitch and try to force contact and not give up freebees and we did that," Trapasso said. "Our guys have had it handed to them by (Oregon’s) pitchers the first two games and they came out aggressive and ready to go."
Hawaii played without second baseman Stephen Ventimilia, who had the flu. Sophomore Marcus Doi appeared to aggravate his groin yet again on a swing in the seventh inning and will likely sit out Monday’s series finale.
UH hasn’t won multiple games in a series against the Ducks since 2011.
Junior Kyle Von Ruden will get the start.
HAWAII 10, NO. 16 OREGON 1
Oregon |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
UH |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
Eureste 3b |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
LoCoco lf/rf |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Goldfarb rf |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Shldn-Cllns ss |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Tolman 2b |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
Aliviado cf |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Chase dh |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Doi |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
Smith pr |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Sawelson 3b |
4 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
Cuddy 1b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Kitaoka 3b |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Packard lf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Ramirez 1b |
4 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
Karaviotis ss |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Richartz rf |
4 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
Patzlaff ph/ss |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Baldwin ph/lf |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Susnara c |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Ka’aua c |
2 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
Catalano cf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Linebarger 2b |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Totals |
30 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
Totals |
35 |
10 |
14 |
9 |
Oregon (2-1) |
000 |
001 |
000 |
— |
1 |
7 |
0 |
UH (1-2) |
530 |
002 |
00x |
— |
10 |
14 |
0 |
DP–Oregon 1. LOB–Oregon 4; Hawaii 9. 2B–Cuddy; Sheldon-Collins; Richartz; Ka’aua. HBP–Karaviotis; Aliviado, 2; Doi; Ramirez. SH–Sheldon-Collins; Ka’aua. SB–Tolman. CS–Eureste.
Oregon |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Paddon (L, 0-1) |
1 |
5 |
7 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
Corn |
2/3 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Stiles |
32/3 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
Reta |
12/3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Graham |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Paddon faced 2 batters in the 2nd |
HAWAII |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Brewster (W, 1-0) |
51/3 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
Culp (S, 1) |
32/3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
WP–Paddon; Brewster. HBP–by Paddon (Aliviado); by Paddon (Doi); by Brewster (Karaviotis); by Stiles (Ramirez); by Stiles (Aliviado).
Umpires–(Plate): Ruben Candelaria. (First): Jeff Henrichs. (Third): Rickey Scarbery. T–2:40. A–2,367.