The seniors had their moments in the University of Hawaii baseball team’s 6-2 victory over UC Irvine at Les Murakami Stadium on Friday night.
Third baseman Josh Rojas powered a key two-run homer, Brendan Hornung pitched seven effective innings and Casey Ryan hurled two scoreless innings. Rojas, Hornung and Ryan are among the seven UH seniors who will participate in today’s graduation ceremonies.
By improving to 26-17 overall and 8-8 in the Big West, the Rainbow Warriors clinched a winning regular season with eight games remaining. The ’Bows were 30-25 in 2012, their last season in the Western Athletic Conference. This three-game Big West series continues Sunday at 5 p.m.
“Our main goal was to change the culture,” Rojas said. “To change the culture, one of our goals was to have a winning record this season. We have other goals, but we wanted to bring back winning baseball in Hawaii. We want to win more games. But it was good to get this out of the way.”
UH coach Mike Trapasso said things began to change last year, although it was not reflected in the 2016 record.
“This year added to that,” Trapasso said. “Being able to know it’s a winning season is another accomplishment for these guys. I’m proud of these guys. The last couple of years have had some struggles. Getting us back on track is all due to these guys.”
The score was tied at 2 when Chayce Ka‘aua walked to open the UH fifth. One out later, Louis Raymond’s errant pick-off throw went past first baseman Ryan Fitzpatrick as Ka‘aua raced to third.
“They kept picking over,” Ka‘aua said. “Fortunately, they made a mistake and I got to third.”
Against a drawn-in infield, Johnny Weeks grounded a ball past second baseman Cole Kreuter to score Ka‘aua with the go-ahead run.
“It was a fastball away,” said Weeks, who bats right-handed. “He tried to quick pitch, but I was ready for it. I got the barrel on it, and found a hole.”
An inning later, Kekai Rios was struck by a 3-1 pitch from Raymond. Rojas then pulled Raymond’s next pitch over the wall in the right-field corner for his fifth homer of the season. Rojas did not hit a home run in 155 at-bats in 2016.
“That guy was throwing a good two-seam fastball,” Rojas said. “My previous two at-bats, he was trying to get ahead with the fastball, and if he got ahead, he would come back with off-speed pitches. I was trying to be aggressive on the fastball. I knew that was the best shot. I wasn’t trying to think big up there. I was trying to hit the ball hard.”
In the seventh, Alex Fitchett doubled down the left-field line, scooted to third on Weeks’ grounder to the right side, and scored on Dustin Demeter’s double to right.
Demeter had three hits and outfielder Adam Fogel added two for the ’Bows.
Hornung, who had struggled in his three previous starts, allowed six hits and two runs — one earned — in seven innings to improve to 6-4. In the third, Hornung pitched out of a first-and-third situation when he struck out Fitzpatrick then induced Adam Alcantara to hit an inning-ending groundout.
“Brendan was better,” Trapasso said. “He’s still not back to where he was earlier. But you saw the signs that show the light at the end of the tunnel. He’s starting to figure things out.”
Ryan got the final six outs, although he was not in a save situation when he entered.
—
Hawaii 6, UC Irvine 2
>> UCI (17-29, 4-12) 010 010 000— 2 6 1
>> UH (26-17, 8-8) 000 212 10x— 6 101
WP—Raymond. HBP–by Raymond (Rios). Umpires—(Plate): Will Van Raaphorst. (First): Carl Coles. (Third): Stephen Fritzoni. T—2:33. A—1,619
BIG WEST BASEBALL
Friday
>> Hawaii 6, UC Irvine 2
>> UC Davis 4, UC Riverside 3, 10 inn.
>> Long Beach State 3, Minnesota 2
>> Cal State Fullerton 8, UC Santa Barbara 4
>> Cal Poly 6, Cal State Northridge 5
Today
>> Long Beach State at Minnesota, 9 a.m.
>> UC Riverside at UC Davis 10 a.m.
>> Cal State Northridge at Cal Poly, 3 p.m.
>> UC Santa Barbara at Cal State Fullerton, 4 p.m.
Sunday
>> UC Irvine at Hawaii, 5 p.m.
>> Long Beach State at Minnesota, 8 a.m.
>> UC Riverside at UC Davis 10 a.m.
>> Cal State Northridge at Cal Poly, 10 a.m.
>> UC Santa Barbara at Cal State Fullerton, 11 a.m.
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