With a two-game lead for third place in the Big West, Long Beach State did what it had to do to keep alive its postseason hopes.
Two games behind UC Davis at the bottom of the conference, Hawaii is just hoping to crack 20 wins this season.
The Dirtbags scored the go-ahead runs in the top of the eighth inning without a hit and became the third Big West team in a row to sweep Hawaii at Les Murakami Stadium with a 3-1 victory on Sunday afternoon in front of a modest crowd of 939.
Hawaii junior Scott Squier (4-5) gave up back-to-back walks to lead off the eighth and Eric Hutting scored on a sacrifice fly to left to give LBSU the lead.
Colton Vaughn added an insurance run scoring on a wild pitch as the Dirtbags (26-23, 12-6) improved to 8-2 in their last 10 games as they try to make a regional for the first time since 2008.
3
LBSU
1
HAWAII
NEXT: UH vs. UC Davis, 11:30 a.m. on Friday in Davis, Calif. Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
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"We’re kind of in the thick of it, and to do this trip for the first time for our guys shows some character regardless of record or anything like that," Long Beach State coach Troy Buckley said. "We haven’t been great on Sundays and have been in positions to sweep series and they accomplished something that they haven’t accomplished, which is a big deal."
Long Beach State was 3-7 in Sunday games coming in and 0-4 when trying to finish off a sweep.
Hawaii (19-28, 3-15) scored in only three of 27 innings in the series and was held to one run or none for the fifth time in its past eight league games.
"You’ve got to get more than three hits and you’ve got to throw strikes out of the bullpen," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "That’s all you can really say."
Adam Hurley’s one-out RBI double in the sixth inning scored Marc Flores to tie the score at 1-1.
Hawaii finished with three hits total and managed only 17 in the series.
Since scoring 22 runs on 44 hits in their opening conference series against UC Santa Barbara, Hawaii is averaging 2.9 runs and 6.9 hits per game in league play.
"It’s tough, but you’ve got to keep battling really because it’s all you can do," said Hurley, who is hitting a team-best .323 among players with more than 20 starts. "Our approach of thinking middle and not trying to do much has been really working out for me."
Junior Jarrett Arakawa lowered his season ERA to 2.28 and kept UH in the game, allowing one run over 5 1⁄3 innings.
His only hiccup was giving up consecutive doubles with two outs in the fifth as Johnny Bekakis scored Cameron Pongs after Arakawa had struck out the first two in the inning.
He struck out four in 80 pitches and didn’t walk a batter for just the second time in his nine starts.
"I thought he was crafty and he did a great job of changing speeds and changing tempo," Buckley said. "He kept (Hawaii) in the game and that’s what you want, especially from a Sunday guy."
Ryan Millison (4-1) got the win for Long Beach with three shutout innings of relief and didn’t allow a hit after Hurley’s double in the sixth.
Hawaii senior Conner George, who started his first game since March 17 against Nevada, had both of Hawaii’s hits off LBSU starter Nick Sabo, who lasted six innings and struck out three.
Squier dropped below .500 for the season, allowing two runs on one hit in 2 1⁄3 innings with three strikeouts.
The left-hander walked five in three innings in two appearances out of the bullpen this series.
Hawaii will travel to play UC Davis this weekend before ending the season with three games at home against UC Riverside.
LONG BEACH STATE 3, HAWAII 1
| LBSU |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
UH |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
| Brenner cf |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Ventimilia 2b |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Hampson ss |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
George rf |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| Patron 1b |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Aliviado cf |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Prigatano rf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Flores 1b |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Hill 3b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Richartz dh |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Pongs dh |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Hurley lf |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Bekakis lf |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Podratz c |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Hutting c |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Wobrock ss |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Vaughn 2b |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Brewster 3b |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Totals |
28 |
3 |
7 |
2 |
Totals |
26 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
| LBSU (26-23, 12-6 BWC) |
000 |
010 |
020 |
— |
3 |
7 |
0 |
| HAWAII (19-28, 3-15 BWC) |
000 |
000 |
100 |
— |
1 |
3 |
0 |
DP—LBSU 1; Hawaii 1. LOB—LBSU 5; Hawaii 4. 2B—Pongs; Bekakis; Vaughn; Hurley. 3B—Hill. HBP—Prigatano; Flores. SH—Brenner 2; Richartz 2. SF—Hampson. CS—Hampson; Patron; George.
| LBSU |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Sabo |
6 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Millison (W, 4-1) |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
| HAWAII |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Arakawa |
51/3 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
| Squier (L, 4-5) |
21/3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
| Jones |
11/3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
WP—Squier. HBP—by Sabo (Flores); by Jones (Prigatano. Umpires—(Plate): Jason Rogers. (First): Anthony Norris. (Third): Stephen Fritzoni. T—3:00. A—939.
BIG WEST STANDINGS
| |
Conference |
|
|
|
Overall |
| |
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L |
| UC Irvine |
15 |
3 |
.833 |
— |
34 |
16 |
| Cal Poly |
16 |
5 |
.762 |
1 1/2 |
41 |
10 |
| Long Beach St. |
12 |
6 |
.667 |
4 1/2 |
26 |
23 |
| UC Riverside |
10 |
8 |
.556 |
6 |
22 |
24 |
| CS Fullerton |
8 |
10 |
.444 |
7 |
25 |
22 |
| UCSB* |
9 |
12 |
.429 |
7 1/2 |
29 |
15 |
| CS Northridge |
6 |
12 |
.333 |
10 |
18 |
32 |
| UC Davis |
5 |
13 |
.278 |
10 1/2 |
20 |
27 |
| Hawaii |
3 |
15 |
.167 |
11 1/2 |
19 |
28 |
*includes one tie for overall record
Sunday
Long Beach State 3, Hawaii 1
CS Northridge 4, UC Santa Barbara 1
Cal Poly 10, UC Irvine 3
UC Riverside 8, CS Fullerton 7, 11 inn.
*Gonzaga 5, UC Davis 2 (6)
*Nonconference game
Tuesday
*UC Santa Barbara at Pepperdine
*UC Davis at Sacramento State
*Cal Poly at Saint Mary’s
*Loyola Marymount at UC Riverside
*San Diego at Long Beach State
*UCLA at UC Irvine
*Nonconference game
