’Bows fall short to No. 7 Long Beach State

The short-handed Hawaii baseball team fell short in Friday’s 2-1 loss to seventh-ranked Long Beach State at Blair Field.

A capacity crowd of 2,382 saw Darren McCaughan hush the ’Bows in eight scoreless innings ahead of the postgame fireworks show. McCaughan, who was named to the All-America second team last year and pitched for the collegiate national team, allowed seven hits and struck out eight to improve to 8-2.

By winning the opener of this three-game series, the first-place Dirtbags improved to 33-16 overall and 16-3 in the Big West. The ’Bows, who dropped to 26-20 and 8-11, must win their five remaining games to finish with a winning conference record for the first time in their five-year Big West membership.

The ’Bows were without suspended third baseman Josh Rojas and first baseman Eric Ramirez. Rojas returns for today’s 11 a.m. game. Ramirez will not play the rest of this season.

“We battled,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said in a telephone interview. “It was a good game against a good team. We played well, but we came up on the short end. Credit (the Dirtbags), and let’s get to work (on Saturday). I can’t wait to go to the yard and try again.”

McCaughan, a right-handed junior, befuddled the ’Bows with a fastball that reached 92 mph, an unpredictable slider and a changeup. McCaughan’s two-seam fastball consistently jammed UH’s right-handed hitters; the changeup broke away from the lefty batters.

“He’ll throw (his three pitches) any time in any count,” Trapasso said of McCaughan. “He doesn’t miss a spot. He is on his location every pitch, and it was impressive to watch.”

It took two batters for the Dirtbags to take a 1-0 lead. Jarren Duran opened with a triple to left-center and scored on Daniel Jackson’s single to left. Although the Dirtbags managed only one run on three hits in the first, Trapasso was having a deja-vu moment. Right-hander Brendan Hornung was uneven the past four starts.

“That first inning, we tried the change, the curve and the split — and none of them was close to the zone,” said Trapasso, who calls the pitches. “You know the way he’s throwing, it’s going to be a rough one because he didn’t look like he would be able to get anyone out the way he was pitching in the first inning.”

Between innings, Trapasso instructed Hornung to ease on the changeup, to throw it at 70 percent effort. In the 1-2-3 second inning, Trapasso said, “he throws four big changeups, and that got him back in rhythm. He was money the rest of the game.”

Hornung allowed six hits and one run the rest of the way in his fifth complete game. “It was a real mature outing for Brendan,” Trapasso said.

Alex Fitchett had three hits, including his fifth home run of the season in the ninth. But the ’Bows hit into three inning-ending double plays.

The ’Bows started four freshmen — third baseman Zack Chan, shortstop Dustin Demeter, first baseman Logan Pouelsen and left fielder Adam Fogel. The ’Bows did not commit an error.

Chan, who started in place of Rojas, had a single and a walk in three plate appearances. He singled to left on an 0-2 pitch. He advanced a runner on a hit-and-run groundout. And he drew a walk in an eight-pitch at-bat during which he fouled off two two-strike pitches.

“Zack was outstanding,” Trapasso said. “He made two very good plays out on the field.”