Meteorologists described Saturday as “mostly cloudy” in Northridge, Calif.
For the Hawaii baseball team, it appeared to be gloomier at Matador Field.
A crowd of 615 saw the Cal State Northridge pound out a 10-2 rout to end the Rainbow Warriors’ winning streak at four games. By evening the three-game series, the Matadors improved to 18-23 overall and 5-9 in the Big West. The ’Bows fell to 18-21 and 7-7.
“We played poorly,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said. “We weren’t good in any phase of the game. We didn’t hit. We didn’t field. We didn’t pitch.”
Center fielder Robert Bullard and third baseman Josh Cerpa drove in three runs each for the Matadors. Seven of the Matadors’ runs materialized with two outs.
“They got all the damage with two outs,” Trapasso said. “They got all the hits when it counted. We couldn’t make the pitch, and we couldn’t get anything going offensively.”
Logan Pouelsen, who moved from the third to the second spot in UH’s pitching rotation, lasted just 32⁄3 innings, surrendering six runs — five of them earned — in a 75-pitch struggle.
In the third inning, Cerpa’s squeeze brought home Sean Skelly with the game’s first run. Later, Jose Ruiz delivered a two-out, two-run double to make it 3-0.
In the fourth inning, after Pouelsen fanned Austin Elder for the second out, Cerpa followed with a two-run single to center. Elder continued to second on center fielder Scotty Scott’s error, then scored when Bullard’s grounder snaked its way into right field. That was all for Pouelsen, but the tone had been set.
“Once they got the two-out hits, he couldn’t stop the bleeding,” Trapasso said of Pouelsen.
Trapasso said CSUN’s leadoff hitter reached base in four consecutive innings. Three times that player eventually scored. Trapasso was particularly disappointed when Angelo Bortolin drew a walk to open the fourth.
“We go from 0-2 to a walk on the leadoff guy, and it went downhill from there,” Trapasso said.
The ’Bows amassed 10 hits and had baserunners in seven of the nine innings.
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve got guys on,” Trapasso said. “You don’t win prizes for getting guys on. You’ve got to get them in.”
The ’Bows were down eight runs when Tyler Murray had an RBI single for the second consecutive day. Murray has recovered from a hamstring ailment suffered a week ago.
In the ninth, Daylen Calicdan belted a solo home run, his first in his 50-game UH career.
But that was not nearly enough on a day when CSUN’s Isaiah Nunez dominated (no walks or earned runs in 71⁄3 innings). The ’Bows also mishandled routine plays.
“Defensively, we were abysmal,” Trapasso said. “Hometown scoring really allowed it to look better than it was. We were credited with two errors, but we really made five. We can’t play any worse than we did today. We have to forget about it. We’ve been playing really well for a couple weeks. We have to come back out and play better.”
Aaron Davenport, who was bumped from the series-opening start because of recent struggles, will start for the ’Bows today.
“We need him to be better than he’s been,” Trapasso said. “He’s capable of going out and dominating. He needs to relax and pitch.”
