On a swing and a prayer, Johnny Weeks crushed a two-run, walk-off homer to deliver Hawaii’s 8-6 baseball victory over Seton Hall at Les Murakami Stadium.
A Sunday-matinee crowd of 1,506 saw Weeks pull a 2-0 fastball over the wall in left field and onto Kalele Road for the dramatic finish to a game that took 3 hours, 39 minutes.
“It seemed like fate,” said winning pitcher Jeremy Yelland, who struck out 10 of the 15 batters he faced. “He hit that ball, and everyone knew right away.”
Drenched in green Powerade and emotion, Weeks said: “That was unbelievable.”
With the biting crosswinds, the stadium can be a graveyard for long drives.
“I got a little lucky,” Weeks said. “I don’t think there were any tradewinds when I made contact with that one. I’m really glad it went out. We needed that win badly.”
In the third of this four-game series, the ’Bows trailed 3-0 and 5-1. But they cobbled two runs in the fifth and two in the sixth, and then went ahead, 6-5, when Eric Ramirez drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth.
It appeared the ’Bows would seal the outcome when Rob Dadona hit a two-out grounder to shortstop Maaki Yamazaki, who had committed only three errors in 77 chances this season. But Yamazaki’s throw skipped past Ramirez at first as Dadona scooted to second. Christian Del Castillo then hit an opposite-field single to left to score Dadona with the tying run.
But Weeks said the ’Bows were not discouraged.
“We were playing with nothing to lose,” Weeks said. “That’s why it feels good to be the home team. You’ve always got last ups. Anything can happen.”
With one out, Yamazaki hit a liner that glanced off the glove of leaping second baseman Dadona and rolled into the outfield for a single.
Left-hander Corey Sawyer, the fifth Seton Hall pitcher, could not find the strike zone on his first two fastballs.
“I was timing him up well the first two pitches,” Weeks said.
Sawyer then threw an inside fastball to the right-hand swinging Weeks.
“I knew if I put a good swing on it, a good thing would happen,” Weeks said. “And that’s what happened. It felt good. I felt it off the bat. I had a couple of those in (scrimmages). I knew I was a capable. It just took one pitch and one swing to get it done.”
The ’Bows had relied on good pitching and fielding through most of the season. Weeks, who struggled early, has been part of the offensive resurgence. The ’Bows amassed a season-high 13 hits.
“Not only was (the homer) a great swing by Johnny, but it was his third hit of the game,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said. “He’s a guy we really felt could be one of those senior leaders and have a good year for us offensively. He started off slow, but now he’s starting to see it better. These kids are tough. They’re resilient.”
Yelland replaced fellow freshman Cade Smith with two outs in the fifth. Yelland retired 12 in a row before Yamazaki’s error in the ninth. “I know it’s Maaki,” Yelland said. “He’s going to make the next 100 plays.”
Trapasso also is confident that Yelland will continue his ascent. Yelland did not pitch longer than two innings in his previous four relief appearances. He entered averaging 8.1 strikeouts per nine innings. But on Sunday, mixing a 90-mph fastball with a quick-dropping slider, Yelland struck out six of the first eight batters he faced. His 10 strikeouts came on 71 pitches.
“It was one of those days when everything comes together,” said Yelland, who did not issue a walk in 41⁄3 innings.
Trapasso said Yelland’s command and confidence have grown since pitching two scoreless innings against Louisiana State two weeks ago.
“When he’s throwing that slider for a strike any time in the count, it’s such a wipeout slider, it’s a Ron Guidry slider,” Trapasso said, referencing the 1978 Cy Young Award winner. “But nobody their age knows who Ron Guidry is. But it’s a plus slider.”
Trapasso said he envisions Yelland and Smith as potential weekend starters next season. “That’s pretty impressive,” Trapasso said. “Right now, we’ll just worry about tomorrow.”
