One Mississippi … two Mississippi …

After dropping the first two of the season-opening series to Ole Miss, the Hawaii baseball team refused to be victimized a third time, pounding back for a 9-1 victory in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

A crowd of 2,596 at Les Murakami Stadium saw freshman pitchers Isaiah Magdaleno and Itsuki Takemoto combine on a three-hitter and third baseman Kyson Donahue smack a three-run homer that put away the 2022 College World Series champions.

After outlasting the ’Bows in 13 innings and nearly 5 hours on Friday, the Rebels came back to win 5-2 in Saturday’s seven-inning first game. Bo Gatlin’s three-run homer in the second inning sparked Ole Miss.

At the start of the 45-minute break between games, UH coach Rich Hill notified the right-handed Magdaleno of the starting assignment.

“I didn’t know when I was going to pitch, but I was ready to pitch when I had to,” Magdaleno said. “It was exciting once he gave me the call, and I just did the best I could.”

Magdaleno mystified the Rebels with a changeup.

“I felt it kept them off balance,” he said of his favorite pitch. “I was trusting my (pitching) coach (Keith Zuniga) with all his calls. And I trusted my guys to make plays.”

Magdaleno allowed two hits and yielded Reagan Burford’s RBI single with no outs in the fifth. Hill then beckoned Takemoto, a two-way player who grew up in Japan. With runners at first and second and UH leading 5-1, Hill described the situation as “huge” — but not overwhelming for Takemoto. Hill said Takemoto had pitched successfully before 40,000 fans in a tournament in Japan.

Takemoto, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound right-hander, struck out Luke Hill on three pitches. He induced Andrew Fischer to hit into a groundout. After walking Jackson Ross, Takemoto struck out Treyson Hughes to end the threat.

Takemoto allowed only a single the rest of the way to earn the three-inning save. The doubleheader’s second game also was played to seven innings. Takemoto retired nine of the 11 batters he faced, striking out six of them.

“Amazing,” Takemoto said of his UH debut. “A little nervous. Just tried to throw strikes.”

He said he mixed a four-seam fastball, cutter, changeup and slider.

“I told him to have fun,” catcher DallasJ Duarte said. “Everybody is going to be a little nervous, but it’s nothing to a baller.”

Takemoto said: “It was fun.”

UH’s Hill said “when the lights come on … (Takemoto) obviously is a different player. He’s very comfortable in that environment.”

The past week, a camera crew has been following Takemoto, who will be the subject of two 30-minute television shows that will air in Japan. The crew’s producer said the documentary’s title roughly translates to “Big Monster.”

The ’Bows also received a second-game boost from Donahue, who drilled a towering homer to right field to widen the lead to 9-1, and Austin Machado. Machado, a catcher/designated hitter who transferred from San Diego, drove in the ’Bows’ first run with a double into the right-field corner in the first inning.

“I was really pumped up,” Machado said. “It got us on the board. We needed to score first. It helped a lot when we scored first.”

His uncle is Rob Machado, a pro surfer who competed in the World Surf League Championship Tour for nine years through 2001. “Pretty cool,” the younger Machado said. “He’s another guy to me.”