The Hawaii baseball team delivered big swings early and tough pitching late in a 7-2 victory over UC Davis at Les Murakami Stadium.
A Mother’s Day crowd of 1,542 saw the Rainbow Warriors sweep the three-game Big West series and clinch a winning regular season for the second year in a row. With six games to go in the regular season, the ’Bows are 25-18 overall and 14-10 in the Big West. They are three games behind Big West leader Cal State Fullerton (17-7).
“We’re just going to keep cracking rocks,” UH coach Rich Hill said. “We’re not out of this thing. We’re going to go hard until we’re mathematically eliminated — if we ever are.”
UH designated hitter Jacob Igawa went 3-for-5 and drove in three runs, and first baseman Kyson Donahue smacked three doubles and scored three times.
“I’ve been putting in some work (and) it’s finally paying off,” said Donahue, who was 6-for-10 during the series. “I’ve been able to see the ball well this weekend and put up some good swings.”
Hill said the left-swinging Donahue “shortened up his swing, really committed to the two-strike approach today.”
Two of Donahue’s doubles came on 2-2 and 3-2 pitches.
Donahue smacked a run-scoring double and Igawa followed with two-run single as the ’Bows stormed to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
In UH’s two-run second inning, Matt Wong’s seventh homer of the season extended the ’Bows’ advantage to 6-0.
“All I know is the wind was blowing out to right,” Wong said of his opposite-field drive over the fence in right field. “If you put the ball up there, it has a good chance of getting out. I was thinking of more of an away approach, hitting the ball the other way, because I knew there was a chance the ball could fly today.”
The Aggies scored a pair of runs in the third but nothing after that against relievers Tyler Dyball and Harrison Bodendorf. Dyball, who pitched 22⁄3 innings as starter Connor Harrison’s replacement, improved to 2-1.
“I was ready when I got the call,” said Dyball, who was making his first appearance in 14 days.
Dyball said only one of his three pitches was effective. “Only the fastball,” right-handed Dyball said. “The fastball was the only pitch I had today. I was trying to throw two seams (toward his arm side of the plate) to get ground balls. The slider and changeup sucked today. They’ll be better next week.:”
Dyball induced five grounders, including one turned into a double play.
Bodendorf pitched the final 21⁄3 scoreless innings for his third save. In Thursday’s series opener, Bodendorf threw 55 pitches — 35 for strikes — in three shutout innings. Concerned about Bodendorf’s endurance on two days’ rest, Hill decided to start Harrison.
“Connor Harrison was just rested,” said Hill, noting Harrison had starter’s capability after pitching a complete game in summer ball. “It made sense.”
When the Aggies placed two runners on an error and a walk with two outs in the seventh, Bodendorf was summoned. Bodendorf got Damian Stone to ground out to first to end the threat. Bodendorf then struck out three and allowed a hit in the final two innings.
Hill said Bodendorf appeared stronger on Sunday than in Thursday’s game, with his fastball touching 89 mph. That really made “that changeup play up,” Hill said. “When that changeup is playing up, it makes the fastball so much better. He was better today.”
The ’Bows depart Wednesday morning for California ahead of this weekend’s three-game series against Cal State Fullerton.