Saving the best for last, Hawaii’s most experienced baseball player and a seldom-used freshman led the way in a season-ending 9-6 victory over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night.
A Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 2,797 saw the ’Bows finish at 28-23 overall — their first winning season since 2012 — and 10-14 in the Big West.
Marcus Doi, a senior outfielder, hit his first career home run and added a two-run double to tie it at 6 in the fourth inning. Jacob Sniffin had three RBIs, including the go-ahead, two-run double in the sixth.
It was a wild regular-season finale to Mike Trapasso’s 16th year as UH coach.
The ’Bows trailed 6-2 when starting pitcher Jackson Rees exited with two outs in the third. The pre-series blueprint would have called for Neil Uskali to be used in long relief. But Uskali was pressed into starting on Friday when Dominic DeMiero experienced elbow discomfort in his left (pitching) elbow during warm-ups.
As Rees’ immediate replacement on Saturday, Trapasso turned to Matt Richardson, who did not allow a run in 22⁄3 innings. Casey Ryan followed with 2 2⁄3 scoreless innings.
In the ninth, the Gauchos placed runners at second and third with one out. But Dylan Thomas struck out Austin Bush, who entered with a home run every 4.0 at bats the previous 11 games. Thomas then induced Sam Cohen to fly out to center field for his ninth save.
Doi, UH’s only fourth-year player on the 2017 roster, and Sniffin provided the offensive sparks for the ’Bows.
Down 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Doi powered a home run over the wall in left field. Doi’s first collegiate home run came on the 380th at-bat and in the 120th game of his UH career. With center fielder and lead-off hitter Dylan Vchulek unavailable because of a foot problem, an outfield shuffle led to Doi’s batting first and playing in left field.
“It was unbelievable,” Doi said of his first home run since his junior year at Mid-Pacific Institute. “It was a great feeling.”
Doi said he connected on a “nice fastball in. I cheated a little bit, and got a hold of it.”
In the UH fourth, Logan Pouelsen’s RBI single cut the deficit to 6-2. The ’Bows then loaded the bases for Sniffin, whose previous at-bat was on April 9 and last hit on March 4. Sniffin then pulled a single to right to score Alex Fitchett. “Vchulek was injured,” Sniffin said of the opening in the lineup, “and I was the next guy up.”
Doi then followed with a double to right-center, scoring Pouelsen and Johnny Weeks to tie it at 6. Sniffin was thrown out at the plate on the play.
“Sniffin came through in the clutch,” Doi said of the situation leading to his at-bat. “He pulled through, and I was lucky enough to get that at-bat and drive in some runs.”
In the sixth, Pouelsen reached on a one-out single to center field. Weeks then singled to right-center as Pouelsen hustled to third.
Sniffin then hit a drive to deep center that glanced off outfielder Tommy Jew’s glove. Pouelsen and Weeks scored to move the ’Bows ahead 8-6.
“I was just going in there trying to make contact,” Sniffin said. “I wanted to do something for the team and our seniors — and we got it done.”
Of his ease in the batter’s box after an extended layoff, Sniffin said, “that’s baseball. The guys around me really helped. We have a great group of guys. They made it easy.”
The ’Bows added an insurance run in the seventh. Kekai Rios drew a one-out walk. One out later, Adam Fogel launched a shot that leaping Billy Fredrick could not secure at the wall in left field. Rios easily scored from first to make it 9-6.
After the game, the seven UH seniors — and college graduates — were honored. Following a video presentation, senior pitcher Isaac Friesen took a knee a proposed to his girlfriend, beach volleyball player Heather Boyan.
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