The Hawaii baseball team went to great lengths — 4 hours, 2 minutes — to outlast UC San Diego 15-10 at Triton Ballpark in La Jolla, Calif.
A Sunday afternoon crowd of 618 saw the Rainbow Warriors amass 15 hits, including home runs by first baseman Kyson Donahue and right fielder Sean Rimmer, to complete the sweep of the three-game Big West series. The ’Bows improved to 25-15 and 9-9 in the Big West. The Tritons, who entered the series a game behind the league’s tri-leaders, fell to 26-14 and 13-8.
“There were great performances all around all weekend long,” UH coach Rich Hill said. “We took it to them from the first inning. There were a lot of stars over the weekend. To be able to knock off (one of the league’s top teams) with a series sweep on the road was pretty amazing for this group.”
Donahue belted a three-run homer in the ’Bows’ four-run third inning. The ’Bows added five more runs on two hits in the fifth to extend their lead to 9-0. Rimmer, a late addition to the starting lineup, crushed a two-run homer in the sixth to make it 12-1. Hill said he decided to swap right-handed Rimmer for left-handed Ben Zeigler-Namoa in right field 30 minutes ahead of the first pitch.
“I just had a feeling,” Hill said. “The wind was blowing out. He took great (batting practice). And we were seeing the lefty (Landon Marchetti). So on a hunch, we put him in. He had the long home run to left, a double earlier (in the third inning), smashed one to the shortstop, great story.”
Hill also praised left-swinging Donahue, who went 2-for-4, scored three runs and drove in four.
“That was a two-strike home run,” Hill said of Donahue, who fouled off two 3-2 pitches before launching a drive over the fence in right-center. “He stayed short, and that guy left (the pitch) up. In a better at bat a little bit later, when he got that left-on-left curveball, he smoked (an RBI double). Every run was big today.”
The Tritons had averaged allowing 3.4 walks per nine innings. But seven UCSD pitchers combined to issue 12 walks, including seven in the first four innings. Seven of the UH walks were parlayed into runs.
“That’s our deal,” Hill said. “Getting on base and timely hitting.”
The Tritons had 10 hits, were struck seven times by pitches, and scored eight of their runs in the final three innings. In the ninth, Brayden Marx, the seventh UH pitcher, was kept on the mound after relinquishing a one-out, two-run double to Michael Crossland to help the Tritons reach double-digit scoring.
“The best thing about Brayden is the mental toughness he showed when things weren’t going good,” Hill said. “That last out in college baseball is hard to get.”
Marx induced two flyouts to end the game.
“Hey, it’s a win,” Hill said. “We found a way to get a win.”
Itsuki Takemoto, who pitched a scoreless fourth inning in relief of starter Harrison Bodendorf, was credited with the victory.
The ’Bows return to Honolulu today ahead of Tuesday’s game against Division II Hawaii Hilo at Les Murakami Stadium. On Friday, the ’Bows play host to Cal State Northridge in the opener of a three-game series. CSUN has won eight in a row.
BIG WEST BASEBALL
Conference Overall
W L Pct. GB W L
UC Irvine 14 4 .778 — 32 8
UCSB 14 4 .778 — 28 11
CS Northridge 14 4 .778 — 27 14
Cal Poly 15 6 .714 11
2 25 16 UCSD 13 8 .619 21
2 26 14
Hawaii 9 9 .500 5 25 15
!-LBSU 7 11 .389 61
2 20 20
CS Bakersfield 6 15 .286 81
2 11 30
UC Davis 5 13 .278 9 18 23 CS Fullerton 5 16 .238101
2 13 28
UC Riverside 3 15 .167 11 12 26
!-does not include one tie
Sunday
Hawaii 15, UC San Diego 10
UC Irvine 12, UC Riverside 3
Cal Poly 13, UC Davis 6
Cal Poly
Cal State Northridge 3, Cal State
Bakersfield 0
UC Santa Barbara 4, Cal State Fullerton 0
x-Michigan 5, Long Beach State 4
Tuesday
x-Hawaii Hilo at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m.
x-UNLV at UC Riverside
x-San Diego State at Cal State Northridge
x-UC Santa Barbara at California Baptist
x-Cal Poly at Fresno State
x-UC Irvine at San Diego
x-UC Davis at Sacramento State
x-Pacific at Cal State Bakersfield
x-UC San Diego at Arizona State
x-non-conference
HAWAII 15, UC SAN DIEGO 10
RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO
J. Donahue ss 4 1 2 0 2 0 Tsukada 2b 5 3 2 4 1 0
Miyao 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 Machado c 3 2 1 1 2 0 K. Donahue 1b 4 3 2 4 2 2
Duarte dh 5 0 3 2 0 0 Miura cf 4 0 2 1 2 1
Calderon lf 4 2 1 1 1 0 Rimmer rf 6 2 2 2 0 1 Quandt rf 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ickes 3b 3 2 0 0 2 1
TOTALS 38 15 15 15 12 5
TRITONS AB R H BI BB SO
Costello rf 2 2 0 1 2 0
Crossland cf 5 2 2 1 0 0
Rosengard 3b 3 0 0 0 0 1
Ujimori 2b/3b 2 1 0 0 0 2
Gonzalez c 2 1 1 0 1 1
Lomanto ph/c 2 2 0 2 1 0
Kane dh 1 0 1 1 1 0 Orucevic ph/dh 3 1 3 1 0 0
Thacker 2b/3b 2 0 0 0 0 1
Potestio ph/ss 2 0 2 1 0 0 Preap 1b 3 0 0 0 1 0
Ambriz ph/1b 1 0 0 0 0 1 Kleszcz lf 4 1 1 0 0 1
Sudyka ss 2 0 0 0 0 1
Hackworth pr/2b 1 0 0 0 1 0 TOTALS 35 10 10 7 7 8
Hawaii (25-15, 9-9) 004 512 201 — 15 15 1
UCSD (26-14, 13-8) 000 101 233 — 10 10 0
E—Calderon. DP—Hawaii 3, UCSD 1.
LOB—Hawaii 11, UCSD 12. 2B–K. Donahue, Duarte, Miura, Rimmer; Crossland,
Gonzalez. HR—K. Donahue, Rimmer. SF—
Machado, Duarte. SB—Potestio. CS—Miura. HBP—Calderon; Costello, Crossland,
Ujimori, Potestio, Kleszcz, Sudyka.
HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO
Bodendorf 3 1 1 1 2 3 Takemoto (W, 2-1) 1 1 0 0 1 1
Standish 2
3 0 0 0 0 0
Dyball 1 2 1 1 0 1 Giroux 11
3 1 2 2 2 0
Magdaleno 2
3 3 3 0 1 1 Marx 1 1
3 2 3 3 1 2
UC SAN DIEGO IP H R ER BB SO
Marchetti (L, 1-2) 3 6 4 4 2 2 Custer 1
3 1 4 4 3 1 King 2
3 1 1 1 2 0
Seid 2 3 3 3 1 2 Huy 1 2 2 2 2 0 Franco 1 0 0 0 1 0
Farmer 1 2 1 1 1 0
Bodendorf faced 1 batter in the fourth
WP–Takemoto, Marx 2; Marx. HBP—by Bodendorf (Costello); by King (Calderon); by
Standish (Costello); by Standish (Crossland); by Dyball (Kleszcz); by Dyball (Sudyka); by Giroux (Ujimori); by Giroux
(Potestio). Umpires—(Plate): Scott Letendre. (First): Jason Kaminsky. (Second): William VanRaaphorst. (Third): Alex Ortiz.
T—4:02. A–618.
