Hawaii pitcher Blaze Koali‘i Pontes changed his warm-up song — to Pitbull’s “Hotel Room Service” — but his strong delivery remained the same Friday in a 3-0 victory over Cal State Northridge at Les Murakami Stadium.
In front of a crowd of 2,076, including members of the NCAA champion men’s volleyball team, Pontes pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings to improve to 4-0. UH’s second shutout of the season improved the Rainbow Warriors to 23-21 overall and 14-9 in the Big West. The ’Bows also returned to third place.
Second baseman Kyson Donahue’s two-out, two-run double in the fifth inning and first baseman Jacob Igawa’s solo blast — his seventh homer of the season — in the sixth provided enough support.
It was the 10th consecutive strong outing for Pontes, who has a 1.38 ERA during the span. In five starts, Pontes has a 1.42 ERA and 0.98 WHIP while averaging 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
“He’s got that slider, and pretty much downhill plane on that fastball,” UH coach Rich Hill said of Pontes. “He’s filling up the zone. Super competitive. Very durable. I can’t say enough about what he’s done over the course of this last month.”
Catcher Nainoa Cardinez said of Pontes’ outing: “Unreal. It’s a good feeling when the catcher and the pitcher are in sync like that. Everything worked. The fastball was popping out of the hand. Slider was tight. Big movement. It was good.”
Pontes said he learned the slider from former UH closer Dylan Thomas.
“I tried it out, and progressed it since my freshman year,” said Pontes, a junior. “It is what it is today.”
Pontes found the escape hatch early. Kai Moody’s one-out double placed Matadors at second and third in the first inning. But Pontes struck out Gabe Gonzalez and Bart West to end the threat.
In the second inning, the Matadors placed runners at the corners with two outs. This time, Andrew Sojka grounded out to second.
In the sixth, Moody doubled off the fence in right-center, then went to third on Gonzalez’s groundout to second. But Pontes struck out West for the third time to strand Moody.
Pontes exited in the seventh with two on and two outs. Left-handed reliever Tai Atkins entered and fanned Sojka, one of two left-handed batters in CSUN’s starting lineup. Buddie Pindel, the third UH pitcher, departed after issuing a single and a walk to open the CSUN ninth.
Dalton Renne got the final three outs, striking out Ali Camarillo for his fourth save.
“I’m just always ready,” Renne said. “Me and Buddie are in that situation where one of us comes out of the ’pen and one of us starts. Emergency situations happen, and we pick each other up, and that’s what happened tonight.”
Renne said he felt at ease after working on his technique in bullpen sessions this week.
“I feel comfortable out of the stretch now,”Renne said. “I struggled last week out of the stretch. Got after it, gotten a little taller out of it. Just fastball, slider, and trust in it. Getting back to my groove.”
Donahue struggled in his first two at-bats against CSUN starter Lucas Braun. “He threw me a curveball that first pitch,” Donahue said of his at-bat in the fifth inning. “The whole game I was sitting fastball, but he was always pumping curveballs. I made sure to stay on the fastball and flush the last two at-bats and stick to my approach. He threw me a fastball. It was amazing to hear the crowd after (that double).
Hill said: “Two-out hits are golden. (Donahue) definitely went to school on how they were pitching him. Away, away, away. He got one a little bit up and smoked it. It was good to see.”