A night after one of his best pitching performances, Itsuki Takemoto exceeded that as the Hawaii baseball team’s designated hitter.
Before 3,077 at Les Murakami Stadium, Takemoto had three hits and drove in four runs, including three on his first home run as a Rainbow Warrior, in Saturday’s 15-7 victory over 15th-ranked UC Santa Barbara.
Right fielder Jared Quandt also contributed three hits and three RBIs for the ’Bows, who improved to 13-5 overall and 2-3 in the Big West. The Gauchos fell to 15-3 and 4-1. First pitch is at 1:05 p.m. for today’s series finale.
In Friday’s opener of the three-game series, Takemoto allowed four hits, walked none and struck out six in 5 1/3 innings in a 2-1 loss. The ’Bows have scored only 12 runs in Takemoto’s five starts, including six in one game. On Saturday against UCSB’s hard-throwing Jackson Flora, whose fastball has touched 100 mph this season, Takemoto was in the lineup as the designated hitter.
Flora was tagged for seven hits when he exited with a 5-3 deficit and a runner on first with one out in the fourth. A passed ball advanced Shunsuke Sakaino to second. After reliever Nic Peterson struck out Ben Zeigler-Namoa, Quandt singled home Sakaino for a 6-3 lead. Quandt went to third on Elijah Ickes’ single through the hole on the right side. Ickes stole second.
That brought up Takemoto, who entered hitting .200 with runners in scoring position. This time, Takemoto pulled a 1-2 pitch from Peterson over the right-field fence to extend the ’Bows’ lead to 9-3. Takemoto’s homer came on his 33rd at-bat of his two-season UH career.
“It was a slider,” Takemoto said. “I had to be ready to hit anything. It was the perfect spot (of the bat). … (Friday) we lost, it was so frustrating. I’m so happy now.”
Two batters later, Draven Nushida’s infield single plated Kamana Nahaku for a 10-3 lead — and the end of Peterson’s brief outing.
Ickes’ two-run double sparked a three-run fifth to extend the ’Bows’ lead to 13-5.
In the eighth, UH catcher Hunter Faildo tried to move up two baserunners with a bunt. The UCSB catcher fielded the ball but threw wildly to first as Nahaku and Xaige Lancaster scored to make it 15-7.
Quandt, who went 3-for-3, also scored three runs. “I was trying to be ready early, and give me time to react,” Quandt said of facing the Gauchos’ hard-throwing pitchers.
In Friday’s game, UCSB’s Donovann Jackson pitched three scoreless innings in relief of Tyler Bremner, widely regarded as one of the college baseball’s top pitchers. But on Saturday, the Gauchos’ bullpen proved to be leaky. Peterson allowed five hits and four runs to the six batters he faced. AJ Krodel was charged with three earned runs in 11⁄3 innings.
Three UH pitchers combined on a seven-hitter. Liam O’Brien, who entered with a 0.00 ERA in 211⁄3 innings, did not allow a hit in the first three innings. But in the fourth, the Gauchos closed to 4-3 on Jeremiah Crain’s two-run double and Cole Kosciusko’s run-scoring single.
Freddy Rodriguez, who replaced O’Brien at the start of the fifth, gave up four runs — two of them earned —in two innings.
Isaiah Magdaleno pitched three scoreless innings for the save.
The ’Bows jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Matthew Miura walked and Sakaino was struck by a pitch. Both runners advanced a base when Zeigler-Namoa rocketed a drive that struck the fence in left-center for a long single. Quandt’s fielder’s choice grounder brought home Miura. Takemoto’s run-scoring single up the middle made it 2-0.
