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Cal State Fullerton’s magic number to win the Big West is four.
Hawaii’s magic number all season is five.
The Rainbow Warriors won their 15th consecutive conference game when scoring at least five runs in a 6-3 victory over the 18th-ranked Titans on Friday night in the series opener at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, Calif.
Kekai Rios went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and Matt LoCoco came through with a two-out, two-run triple in the sixth inning for Hawaii (22-26, 11-11 Big West), which has won three straight.
Josh Rojas doubled and drove in two runs and freshman Ethan Lopez doubled to extend his hitting streak to 14 games and scored twice.
Cal State Fullerton (32-18, 14-5), which entered the series leading the nation in earned-run average, allowed six runs to a conference opponent for just the second time this season.
Hawaii hadn’t scored more than five runs in any of its previous three series against Fullerton as a member of the Big West.
“When you talk about our success this year when scoring five runs, I was talking before the game with (radio play-by-play announcer) Mel Proctor that that stat can go out the window because nobody scores five runs off these guys,” Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “We played well and (Fullerton) didn’t play their best game, so you’ve got to take advantage of it when a team as good as Fullerton makes a couple of mistakes.”
Kyle Von Ruden (7-2) picked up his team-leading seventh win, allowing two earned runs on seven hits in 52⁄3 innings with three walks and four strikeouts.
Lawrence Chew and Cody Culp held the Titans to one hit over 31⁄3 scoreless innings, with Culp earning his fifth save.
Connor Seabold (6-5) was tagged for a season-high five runs on eight hits in 51⁄3 innings to take the loss for Fullerton, which had won five of its last six.
UH got to Seabold first for two runs in the second inning.
Rios singled and Lopez doubled with one out for Chayce Ka’aua, who drove in Rios with a single to center.
Josh Rojas executed a squeeze bunt to the first-base side allowing Lopez to score from third to make it 2-0.
It was the first lead Hawaii held in 47 innings against Cal State Fullerton, which had won the previous eight meetings.
Rojas doubled home Rios with two outs in the fourth inning and Hawaii held a 3-2 lead entering the sixth inning.
UH had runners on first and second with one out when Cal State Fullerton brought in reliever Miles Chambers to face Ka’aua.
Rios and Lopez took off on a hit-and-run on Chambers’ first pitch and catcher Josh Vargas threw the ball high at third, allowing Rios to score.
UH was ahead 4-2 with two outs when LoCoco ripped a ball to center for his fifth triple this season, driving in two more runs.
“LoCoco’s double really opened things up for us, but we had several guys that had good games,” Trapasso said. “We tried to make things happen and push the tempo and it worked out for us.”
LoCoco’s five triples tie Sean Montplaisir and Greg Garcia for the most by a UH player under Trapasso.
Von Ruden gave up a two-out RBI single in the sixth inning and was replaced by Chew, who retired all five batters he faced.
Culp finished off the final 12⁄3 innings for Hawaii, which needs to win one of the next two games to finish at least .500 in conference for the second straight season.
UH is in fourth place in the nine-team league.
Rios finished with his sixth three-hit game of the season to increase his batting average to .345. He also recorded his first stolen base.
“We just tried to stick to our approach and not make this game too big just because they are ranked,” Rios said in a postgame interview on ESPN3. “It was big for us because coming in our record is not that good, but we lost a lot of close games and we want to show that we’re right there with everyone.”
Hawaii is 2-8 as a member of the Big West against the Titans, who had their conference lead over Long Beach State shrink to two games with five to play.
Fullerton ends the season next week with a road series at the Dirtbags.
Hawaii will close the year with a three-game nonconference series against No. 22 Arizona at home.
BIG WEST BASEBALL
| Conference |
|
|
|
|
Overall |
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L |
| CS Fullerton |
14 |
5 |
.737 |
— |
32 |
17 |
| Long Beach St. |
12 |
7 |
.632 |
2 |
33 |
18 |
| UCSB |
11 |
8 |
.579 |
3 |
34 |
15* |
| Hawaii |
11 |
11 |
.500 |
4 1/2 |
22 |
26 |
| CSUN |
10 |
11 |
.476 |
5 |
31 |
19 |
| Cal Poly |
9 |
10 |
.474 |
5 |
29 |
23 |
| UC Riverside |
9 |
10 |
.474 |
5 |
23 |
27 |
| UC Irvine |
8 |
11 |
.421 |
6 |
28 |
23 |
| UC Davis |
4 |
15 |
.211 |
10 |
16 |
31 |
| *1 tie |
Friday
Hawaii 6, Cal State Fullerton 3
Long Beach State 6, UC Davis 3
UC Riverside 6, Cal Poly 4
UC Santa Barbara 10, UC Irvine 3
Purdue 1, CSUN 0, 10 inn.
Today
Hawaii at Cal State Fullerton
Long Beach State at UC Davis
Cal Poly at UC Riverside
UC Santa Barbara at UC Irvine
CSUN at Purdue
Sunday
Hawaii at Cal State Fullerton
Long Beach State at UC Davis
Cal Poly at UC Riverside
UC Santa Barbara at UC Irvine
CSUN at Purdue
hawaii 6, cal state fullerton 3
| RAINBOW WARRIORS |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
BB |
SO |
| LoCoco cf |
5 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
| Weeks 3b |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Sheldon-Collins ss |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Ramirez 1b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Doi lf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Rios c |
4 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Lopez rf |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Fitchett rf |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Ka’aua dh |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Rojas 2b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
| TOTALS |
37 |
6 |
10 |
5 |
0 |
9 |
|
| TITANS |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
BB |
SO |
| Vargas lf |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Richards ss |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Pinkston 1b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Blaser rf |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Bravo c |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Cardenas dh |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Stieb cf |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Hurst ph/cf |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Pavletich 3b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| LoForte 2b |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| TOTALS |
33 |
3 |
8 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
| Hawaii (22-26, 11-11) |
020 |
103 |
000 |
— |
6 |
10 |
1 |
| CSF (32-18, 14-5) |
010 |
011 |
000 |
— |
3 |
8 |
3 |
E–Rios; Richards, Bravo, Pavletich. LOB–Hawaii 6; CS Fullerton 7. 2B–Lopez, Rojas; Richards. 3B–LoCoco, Weeks; LoForte. HBP–Doi. SH–Rojas; Pavletich. SB–Doi, Rios, Lopez; Vargas.
| HAWAII |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Von Ruden (W, 7-2) |
5 2/3 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| Chew |
12/3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Culp (S, 5) |
1 2/3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| CAL STATE FULLERTON |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Seabold (L, 6-5) |
5 1/3 |
8 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
| Chambers |
1 2/3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Quinn |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Umpires–(Plate): Patrick Riley. (First): Paul Graham. (Third): Kelly Gonzales.
T–3:02. A–1,690.
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