The Hawaii baseball team’s two-way player was too, too much for UC Davis in a 7-2victory at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 3,157 — it was announced as a sellout — saw Itsuki Takemoto pitch a four-hitter over seven innings and drive in two runs with a fifth-inning double.

In a unique double duty, Takemoto was used as a starting pitcher and cleanup hitter.

“I was happy,” said Takemoto, who was told by coach Rich Hill he would pitch and hit during a meeting on Friday. “He told me, ‘Itsuki, you’re going to hit tomorrow.’ ‘OK, Coach, I’m ready.’”

It was the third quality start in a row for Takemoto, who pitched to a 2.31 ERA in his previous two starts. With a fastball that topped in the mid-90s, Takemoto walked none, struck out seven and held the Aggies to 1-for-8 hitting with two outs. In seven innings, he threw strikes on 69 of a career-high 104 pitches.

“I just want to win, I just keep throwing strikes,” Takemoto said.

Of his pitch total, Takemoto said, “No problem. I can pitch more if (Hill) wants.”

Hill said it was a throwback scenario.

“You’ve got a two-way player,” Hill said. “You’ve got a pitcher who hits. It’s just like the old days. … I played with (future Hall of Famer) Tony Gwynn (at San Diego State). I saw Tony Gwynn on a Saturday night play this incredible basketball game, buzzer beater, the whole thing. And the next day we have a doubleheader on a Sunday. He’s starting and playing third without having any fall baseball, no January, and our coach (Jim Dietz) just put him right in, and he had five RBIs. That’s always stuck with me.”

The ’Bows scored all the runs they needed in a three-run first inning. Shunsuke Sakaino and Matthew Miura led off with back-to-back singles. On a pitch on the turf, catcher Evan Gentil threw out Sakaino at third while Miura advanced to second. Ben Zeigler-Namoa and Takemoto drew walks to load the bases.

That brought up switch-hitter Jared Quandt, who was 0-for-2 with the bases filled this season. But Quandt drilled an 0-1 pitch from Noel Valdez to drive in three runs on the 365-foot triple off the fence in right-center.

“I just let my eyes take over a little bit,” Quandt said. “I saw a breaking ball up, and stuck with it, and got a good barrel on it. Off the bat, I thought it had a good chance to get over (the fence), get out. I was happy it hit the wall.”

The Aggies turned to their own two-way player to close to 3-2 in the fourth inning. Braydon Wooldridge entered as the Aggies’ leader in batting average (.426) and ERA (zero earned runs in eight innings over three appearances). After Tyler Howard reached on an infield single to short, Wooldridge followed with a two-run blast to right-center.

The ’Bows added three runs in the fifth for elbow room. Sakaino drew a two-out walk and went to third on Miura’s single to left. Zeigler-Namoa followed with a run-scoring single to right to make it 4-2.

Then Takemoto hit a drive into the left-center gap to bring home Miura and Zeigler Namoa. “Just contact,” Takemoto said of the double. “It’s so simple, but it is.”

In the UH seventh, Sakaino was hit by a pitch and then advanced to third on Miura’s single to left. Sakaino came home on Zeigler-Namoa’s sacrifice fly.

After missing 18 games because of a hamate injury suffered in the season opener, shortstop Jordan Donahue was back in the UH lineup. It did not take him long to get back into defensive groove. Donahue started a 6-4-3 double play in the first inning.

“Jordan showed tremendous work ethic and courage to come back from that injury that fast,” Hill said of the decision to start Donahue. “And why wait? Let’s go for it.”

Donahue said: “The time table was four- to six weeks. I got cleared on Thursday. It all depended on how practice went on Friday during BP and all that. Luckily it felt good so we gave it a go.”

The start of the three-game series was pushed back to Saturday because of UCD’s final-exam schedule. Liam O’Brien will start for the ’Bows in today’s middle game. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.