The Cal Poly baseball team parlayed Hawaii’s generosity Friday night into a 7-2 victory at Les Murakami Stadium.
A crowd of 2,555 — the second largest for a Friday night game in Manoa this year — saw the Mustangs clinch this season-ending, three-game series between Big West opponents by winning for the second night in a row. The Rainbow Warriors’ streak of winning seven series in a row came to an end.
Cal Poly All-America shortstop Brooks Lee reached twice on errors, and came around to score in a three-run fourth inning and as the lone run in the fifth.
The ’Bows’ strategy of intentionally walking a batter to load the bases backfired twice, in the fourth and sixth innings. Each time, the ensuing batter drew an RBI walk.
“That’s what good teams do,” UH coach Rich Hill said of the Mustangs’ opportunistic offense. “They took advantage of what we gave ’em. Baseball’s a game of momentum. We saw that tonight. You have to really give credit to Cal Poly and their players and coaches.”
It was the first difficult start for right-hander Blaze Koali‘i Pontes this season. Pontes entered 4-0 with a 2.15 ERA and 0.98 while averaging 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings in six previous starts. But Pontes allowed five runs — only one earned — and walked seven in 51⁄3 innings.
“He’s hitting the 70-inning mark,” Hill said, referencing Pontes’ 701⁄3 innings in 20 appearances. “That’s the most he’s thrown in his life. We pushed him back a day to get him that extra mid-week work. He’s been such a warrior for us all year long. Tonight just wasn’t his night.”
Pontes exited after issuing a bases-loaded walk to Joe Yorke in the sixth. Dalton Renne struck out Ryan Stafford and Collin Villegas to stop the hemorrhaging in the sixth inning. Renne struck out the next four, finishing with six strikeouts in 31⁄3 innings. But Renne, who had pitched on Thursday night, saw a drop in velocity — and effectiveness — as his pitch count passed 30. He finished with 48 pitches, throwing strikes on 33 of them, but yielded Matt Lopez’s two-run double in the ninth.
Travis Weston spaced eight hits and two runs in 71⁄3 innings to improve to 7-3. He did not issue a walk. This is Weston’s fourth college since his 2017 graduation from Moorpark (Calif.) High. But Weston was right at home in mystifying the ’Bows with a mix of pitches.
“(Weston) was my teammate last year,” said UH center fielder Cole Cabrera, who transferred from Cal Poly last August. “Crafty lefty. He doesn’t really throw the hardest, but he knows how to make his stuff work for him. He’s always been good. He kept us off balanced tonight. He and (Drew) Thorpe (Thursday’s starter) are the top 1-2 combo in the Big West, and maybe even in the nation.”
While Jason Franks, Weston’s successor, has a menu of pitches — fastball, curve and splitter — his preferences are fast and faster. He can touch 95 mph. Franks got the final five outs — including a game-ending catch and throwout — for his 11th save.
“Jason’s one of my best friends,” Cabrera said. “I’m so happy he’s having success. He has a truly unreal story, being a walk-on from the club team to now being Cal Poly’s closer. I’m proud of his development, but I’m disappointed we didn’t get it done against him.”
A scary moment came when a hard grounder short-hopped and hit UH first baseman Jacob Igawa in the face .”I think he’s going to be fine,” Hill said. “I went in the locker room, and I think he has a chipped tooth, a bloody lip. I don’t know how bad it is right now. But he went to the hospital. His parents are here. He seemed in really good spirits. He was talking. I think he’s going to be fine. We’ll see how he is tomorrow.”
