The University of Hawaii baseball team received help from a pitcher’s father and San Francisco’s fielding mistakes for a 3-2 victory before 1,528 spectators at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Rainbow Warriors, whose runs were all unearned, won for the second day in a row to split this four-game, nonconference series. The ’Bows were without outfielders Marcus Doi and Adam Fogel, both of whom suffered hamstring ailments on Friday night, and first baseman Eric Ramirez, who underwent an MRI for a swollen knee.
Once again, the ’Bows relied on effective pitching. In the first three games of the series, the UH starting pitchers had a combined earned-run average of 1.17. On Sunday, Jackson Rees, who struggled in a relief appearance the previous weekend, pitched seven innings, allowing two runs while striking out five. He threw first-strike pitches to 22 of 27 batters, and induced 10 groundouts.
Bill Rees took three pictures of his son’s outing last week. One of the pictures appeared to show a glitch in the pitching motion. “It was just like an arm circle was out of sync,” Jackson Rees said. “For me, I have to be in sync. I made sure I fixed my mechanics. I’m glad my dad was here and he could take a picture of it.”
Rees, who has an over-the-top motion, was able to control his cutter and two-seam curveball. He also found the strike zone with a change-up, usually his least accurate pitch.
Rees exited after seven innings and a 3-2 lead. “The die was cast,” said UH coach Mike Trapasso, noting the Dons had three left-handed hitters and then three righties in the upcoming order. Patrick Martin, a left-hander with a biting slider, pitched a hitless eighth.
Martin has gained confidence in the slider after modifying the pitch’s looping route. “I throw a sharper one that stays in the zone,” Martin said.
Trapasso said Martin is “tailor-made for lefties because his slider is so good.”
Dylan Thomas, who relinquished two towering homers the previous week, got the final three outs for his first save. Thomas, like Martin, uses a slider as an out pitch. But he also mystifies hitters with a 91-mph fastball. “I tried to go out there and pound the zone and give our team a chance to win,” Thomas said.
The ’Bows were creative in scoring single runs in the first, second and fifth innings. They have not produced a multiple-run frame in the past 49 innings.
In the UH first, Dylan Vchulek reached on a throwing error, went to second on a wild pitch, and raced home on Johnny Weeks’ single to left.
The next inning, Logan Pouelsen, who started in place of Ramirez, reached on first baseman Ross Puskarich’s error. Pouelsen then trudged to third on Troy Kakugawa’s double to left. Freshman shortstop Dustin Demeter flied out to left-fielder Harrison Bruce, who threw home. Pouelsen used a sweeping slide to touch the plate ahead of the catcher’s attempted tag.
Trapasso said 235-pound Pouelsen is “actually a good athlete in a bad body.”
Pouelsen agreed, adding, “I feel the same way. I look at myself as a big person who can move around like a little guy.”
In the fifth, Demeter hit a liner that ricocheted off pitcher Sam Granoff’s right arm. Third baseman Matt Campos — a 2016 ‘Iolani graduate — then threw wide of first as Demeter sprinted to third. Demeter scored on Vchulek’s sacrifice fly.
