On a night when meteorologist Guy Hagi made a cameo as a guest announcer, the Hawaii baseball team stormed to a 13-1 rout of Hawaii Hilo at Les Murakami Stadium.
Before a Tuesday night crowd of 1,366, the Rainbow Warriors amassed 12 hits and drew six walks. They also were hit by seven pitches, one shy of the school record.
After the Vulcans scored an unearned run in the first inning, the ’Bows came back to score two runs in the bottom of the inning, five in the second and two more in the third for a 9-1 lead.
Sean Rimmer hit a towering homer to center to open the second inning.
“The scouting report was (Aaron Davies) had a fastball, slider, and a minimal change,” Rimmer said. “He left the change up and I just got my bat head out and it went out of here.”
Jake Tsukada and Austin Machado each scored three runs for the ’Bows. Kyson Donahue went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs on two singles and an RBI groundout. The ’Bows used every available position player on the active roster.
Eight UH pitchers combined on a three-hitter, striking out nine. In what was viewed as a “staff” game in which multiple ’Bows were predetermined to pitch, the plan was for starter Cory Ronan to go as long as he could. Ronan surrendered two hits, leading to an unearned run, and was lifted after one inning.
Hunter Gotschall, Kyle Dobins, Tai Atkins and Charlie Adamson did not allow a hit through the sixth inning. Zac Tenn gave up a double to Mark Fedro with two outs in the seventh. But Tenn struck out Chris Varljen to end that threat. “Everybody just did their job,” UH coach Rich Hill said. “It was great to see.”
Gotschall, in his sixth appearance of the season, pitched two scoreless innings, striking out three, to improve to 1-1. He threw strikes on 20 of 28 pitches.
“It felt good to do something and really contribute to the team,” Gotschall said. “I was able to get in the count early. I was able to mix backward with my offspeed and land that for a strike early, and get ground balls or strikeouts.”
In a game that was largely devoid of suspense, there were two intriguing moments:
>> Itsuki Takemoto, a freshman two-way player from Japan, had his first at bat of the season. Takemoto was recruited with Shohei-like promise because of his success as a pitcher and hitter. He made 13 pitching appearances, going 2-0, before being summoned to bat for designated hitter Machado in the sixth inning. Takemoto struck out on four pitches. But in the eighth, Takemoto hit a 1-0 pitch up the middle for his college hit.
“So fun,” Takemoto said. “It was a fastball. I was thinking, ‘just swing hard.’ It was so fun.”
“That was great,” Hill said. “He’s been really good in batting practice, really over the last month. He shortened up some things. He’s got some juice in that bat. Looking forward to giving him so more reps.”
>> Blake Hiraki, a senior catcher, entered in the seventh inning. Hiraki singled to right to lead off the UH seventh. It was Hiraki’s second career hit, and first since 2022. Hiraki came around to score the ’Bows’ 13th run.
>> In the fourth inning, Ben Zeigler-Namoa was struck by a pitch. Tyrus Stephens immediately signaled for the athletic trainer. Stephens then departed with what officials termed as a “medical” situation.
The ’Bows improved to 26-15. They play host to Cal State Northridge in Friday’s opener of a three-game Big West series. On Tuesday, CSUN extended their winning streak to nine.
Hawaii Hilo fell to 19-31.
HAWAII 13, HAWAII HILO 1
VULCANS AB R H BI BB SO
Oshiro 2b 3 0 1 0 1 0
Min c/1b 2 1 0 0 1 1
Ickes 1b 0 0 0 0 1 0
Ayers pr 0 0 0 0 0 0
Yamauchi dh 3 0 0 0 0 0
Tilley ph 1 0 0 0 0 0
Jackson rf 4 0 1 0 0 1
Cook 1b/c 3 0 0 0 1 1
Fedro 3b 3 0 1 0 0 0
Varljen lf 3 0 0 0 0 1
Iwata ss 2 0 0 0 0 2
Lindberg ph 1 0 0 0 0 0
Casados ss 0 0 0 0 0 0
Yoshida cf 3 0 0 0 0 3
TOTALS 28 1 3 0 4 9
RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO
J. Donahue ss 1 1 0 0 1 0
Ujimora ph/3b 3 1 1 0 1 2
Tsukada 2b 1 3 1 2 2 0
Miyao 1 0 0 0 0 0
Machado dh 2 3 2 1 1 0
Takemoto ph/dh 2 0 1 0 0 1
K. Donahue 1b 3 1 2 3 0 0
Hiraki c 2 1 1 0 0 0
Duarte c/lf 2 0 0 2 0 0
Quandt ph/lf 1 0 1 0 0 0
Miura cf 4 0 0 0 0 0
Nahaku cf 1 0 0 0 0 0
Calderon lf 1 0 0 0 0 0
Zeigler ph/lf 2 0 1 1 0 0
Rivera ph/1b 0 0 0 0 1 0
Rimmer rf 4 1 1 1 0 3
Ickes 3b/ss 4 2 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 34 13 12 10 6 6
Hilo (19-31, 11-21) 100 000 000 — 1 3 2
Hawaii (26-15, 9-9) 252 030 10x — 13 12 1
E–Oshior, Iwata; Rimmer. DP–Hilo 1; Hawaii 2. 2B–Jackson, Fedro. HR–Rimmer.
SF–Duarte. SB–Ickes. HBP–Tsukada, Miyao, Machado, K. Donahue, Zeigler-Namoa,
Rimmer, Ickes.
HILO IP H R ER BB SO
Davies (L, 3-7) 1 4 7 6 2 0
Meyer 1 0 0 0 0 0
Yamasaki 1
3 0 2 2 2 0
Stephens 1 0 0 0 0 0
Wood 11
3 3 3 2 1 2
Honda 1
3 1 0 0 0 1
Liberta 2 3 1 1 1 2
Hirata 1 1 0 0 0 1
HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO
Ronan 1 2 1 0 1 1
Gotschall (W, 1-1) 2 0 0 0 1 3
Dobyns 1 0 0 0 1 0
Atkins 1 0 0 0 0 2
Adamson 1 0 0 0 0 0
Tenn 1 1 0 0 0 1
Cardinez 1 0 0 0 0 1
Waite 1 0 0 0 1 1
PB–Cody Min. HBP– Davies, Yamasaki,
Stephens, Hirata. Umpires—(Plate): Ikaika
Nishimura. (First): John Matson. (Second):
Steve Socha. (Third): Jedd Andrade.
T—3:15. A–2938.
