The Cal Poly baseball team’s effective pitching and last-chance hitting were too much for Hawaii in Sunday’s 5-2 victory at Baggett Stadium in San Luis Obispo.
Before a near-capacity crowd of 3,017, the Mustangs won the final two of this three-game series to improve to 25-9 overall and remain atop the Big West at 14-1.
The Rainbow Warriors fell into a fourth-place tie with UC Santa Barbara at 10-8 in the Big West (24-10 overall). Five teams qualify for the postseason Big West Tournament in Fullerton, Calif.
“I thought their pitchers did a good job,” UH coach Rich Hill said of Ethan Marmie and Jake Torres.
Marmie and Torres combined on a five-hitter while striking out eight and walking three. The Mustangs scored all five runs — three in the fifth and two in the sixth — with two outs.
“Two-out hits are golden,” Hill said.
Marmie and Hawaii’s Cooper Walls were in a pitching duel, each allowing a hit in the first four innings. Both exited in the fifth inning.
Marmie departed after allowing Xaige Lancaster’s RBI single and Shunsuke Sakaino’s sacrifice fly in the fifth.
“We scratched together that two spot,” Hill said. “We had really good momentum. They just came back, put it on us, answered back.”
The ’Bows’ 2-0 lead did not survive the bottom of the fifth. Dylan Kordic hit a one-out single through the right side. One out later, Cam Hoiland hit a shot that ricocheted off Walls and rolled toward Lancaster at third. The throw was too late to get Hoiland. Walls appeared to be shaken after ducking out of the way of the throw to first.
Jake Downing, filling in for injured Zach Daudet, singled up the middle to bring home Kordic. Daudet missed his sixth consecutive game because of the after-effects of an infection in which he was hospitalized for three days. Dante Vachini’s RBI single tied it at 2. Ryan Fenn’s run-scoring single gave the Mustangs a 3-2 lead and ousted Walls.
Hill said Walls appeared to be kneed in the head during an inadvertent contact with a teammate on Hoiland’s ground-ball play. After the game, Hill said Walls entered the concussion protocol.
“He pitched great,” Hill said of Walls, who allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings. “He took a knee to the head. He really wasn’t the same after that comebacker. … We’ll kind of monitor him.”
The Mustangs added two insurance runs in the sixth on Nate Castellon’s RBI single and UH’s ensuing throwing error.
Torres matched his longest stint, allowing two hits in 4 1/3 scoreless innings to earn his first victory in three decisions.
“You have to give credit to Jake Torres, who came in and did a good job,” Hill said. “He really held us at bay the rest of the way. Give credit to Cal Poly. They played outstanding defense two games in a row. And their pitching was really good, and they had some timely hits. They deserved to win the series.”
The ’Bows play a nonconference road game against USC on Tuesday. The game will be played at Loyola Marymount because USC’s home stadium is undergoing renovations.
CAL POLY 5, HAWAII 2
RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO LOB
Sakaino, 2b 3 0 0 1 0 1 0
Miura, cf 4 0 1 0 0 0 2
Zeigler-Namoa, 1b 3 0 0 0 1 1 0
Quandt, rf 4 0 0 0 0 3 0
Takemoto, dh 4 0 1 0 0 1 2
Nahaku, lf 3 1 1 0 0 1 0
Donahue, ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 2
Lancaster, 3b 4 1 1 1 0 0 0
Vergel de Dios, c 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bowen, ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Faildo, c 1 0 0 0 1 1 1
Totals 31 2 5 2 3 8 7
MUSTANGS AB R H BI BB SO LOB
Vachini, lf 4 0 1 1 0 2 0
Fenn, 2b 4 0 1 1 0 0 0
Garza, 3b 4 0 2 0 0 1 0
Collins, c 4 1 1 0 0 1 1
Murray Jr., cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 0
Kordic, rf 4 1 1 0 0 1 1
Castellon, ss 3 0 1 1 0 0 0
Hoiland, dh 3 1 1 0 0 1 1
Downing, 1b 3 1 1 1 0 0 0
33 5 10 4 0 7 3
Hawaii 000 020 000 — 2 5 1
Cal Poly 000 032 00x — 5 10 0
Records:
Hawaii (24-10, 10-8 Big West)
Cal Poly (25-9, 14-1 Big West)
E – Lancaster. LOB – Hawaii 7; Cal Poly 4.
2B – Nahaku (3). HBP – Nahaku. SF –
Sakaino (1). SB – Miura (13).
HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO
Walls (L, 2-2) 42
⁄3 6 3 3 0 3
Thomas 1 3 2 1 0 2
Urban 11
⁄3 0 0 0 0 2
Adamson 2
⁄3 1 1 1 0 1
Rodriguez, Freddy 1 1 0 0 0 0
CAL POLY IP H R ER BB SO
Marmie 42
⁄3 3 2 2 2 4
Torres (W, 1-2) 41
⁄3 2 0 0 1 4
WP – Marmie (8); Torres (1). HBP – by
Torres (Nahaku). Pitches/strikes: Walls
65/48; Thomas 17/14; Urban 17/12; Rodriguez 7/5; Marmie 61/38; Torres 69/47.
Umpires—HP: Devin Shehab. 1B: Rob
McKinley. 3B: Christopher Torres. T—2:38.
A—2,892.
BIG WEST BASEBALL
Conference Overall
W L Pct. GB W L
Cal Poly 14 1 .933 — 25 9
UC Irvine 13 2.9867 1 25 8
CS Fullerton 9 6 .600 5 17 18
Hawaii 10 8 .556 51
⁄2 24 10
UCSB 10 8 .556 51
⁄2 24 10
CS Bakersfield 7 8 .467 7 14 23
UCSD 7 8 .467 7 16 18
LBSU 8 10 .444 71
⁄2 14 19
UC Davis 5 10 .333 9 16 18
CS Northridge 4 14 .222 111
⁄2 8 23
UC Riverside 3 15 .167 121
⁄2 12 22
Saturday
Cal Poly 12, Hawaii 5
UC San Diego 9, Cal State Northridge 5
x-Oregon State 17, Cal State Fullerton 10
UC Davis 7, UC Irvine 3
Long Beach State 7, CSU Bakersfield 5
UC Santa Barbara 18, UC Riverside 8
Sunday
Cal Poly 5, Hawaii 2
UC San Diego 23, Cal State Northridge 6
CSU Bakersfield12, Long Beach State 6
UC Irvine 13, UC Davis 2
x-Oregon State 9, Cal State Fullerton 8
UC Santa Barbara 5, UC Riverside 3
Today
x-UC Santa Barbara at Cal Baptist
Tuesday
x-Hawaii at USC
x-CS Bakersfield at Pacific
x-Portland at CS Northridge
x-Santa Clara at Cal Poly
x-Pepperdine at Cal State Fullerton
x-Sacramento State at UC Davis
x-Loyola Marymount at UC Irvine
x-UC San Diego at San Diego State
x-nonconference game
