Hawaii blows opportunity to beat No. 13 Houston
Hawaii blew a four-run sixth-inning lead against No. 13 Houston, which scored seven runs in the final three innings it came to bat to defeat the Rainbow Warriors 8-6 on Sunday in the final game of the Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park.
Justin Montemayor tied the game with a three-run triple off Kyle Von Ruden in the sixth and Josh Vidales and Jacob Campbell hit two-out RBI singles off Quintin Torres-Costa in the seventh inning to give Houston the lead.
Torres-Costa (0-3) allowed two runs in the seventh inning to take the loss for Hawaii (6-10), which finished 1-2 in the tournament and 2-5 on its seven-game road trip.
Matt Miller started in right field and went 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored and J.J. Kitaoka went 2-for-4 with two RBIs to lead Hawaii, which outhit the Cougars 10-9.
Kaeo Aliviado game UH the lead with a two-run single in the third inning and Alan Baldwin hit a leadoff double in the fourth and scored on a Chayce Ka’aua groundout to push the lead to 3-1.
Kitaoka was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded Miller reached on an infield single to score Ka’aua and give UH a 5-1 lead in the fifth inning.
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Jarrett Arakawa allowed one run on two hits with a walk in two innings in his first outing of the season. Von Ruden retired nine in a row in relief before giving up four runs in the sixth to tie the game.
UH allowed a run in the eighth after a two-out error by Alex Sawelson kept the inning alive. Cody Culp then walked in a run.
Seth Romero allowed two unearned runs in 5 1/3 innings of relief with two walks and five strikeouts to earn the win for the Cougars (9-7).
Hawaii returns home to host Oklahoma for a four-game series at Les Murakami Stadium beginning Thursday.