Loyola Marymount took advantage of Hawaii’s breakdowns in pitching and fielding to break away to a 4-2 baseball victory Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium.
A crowd of 1,418 saw the Lions win the second of a four-game series.
The ’Bows produced a bad cocktail of amassing five hits while committing three errors and walking five, including two in a momentum-shifting eighth inning.
“When you’re not swinging the bat, you have to make sure you’re not giving up freebies,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said. “We have got to play better. Today it was easier to quantify. … Five hits, five walks, three errors. You’re not going to win a lot of games scoring two runs. It makes every single walk and every single error magnified tenfold. We’ve just got to get better.”
Trapasso shook up a lineup that had been struggling recently. Dylan Vchulek, who had batted leadoff every game of his two-year UH career, was moved to the ninth spot. Second baseman Dustin Demeter was shifted from the top third of the batting order to sixth.
They each drove in a run to stake the ’Bows to an early 2-0 lead.
It appeared that would hold up behind left-hander Dominic DeMiero, who did not allow an earned run in seven innings. DeMiero escaped two jams when the Lions were doubled off second base twice on a liner to Demeter and a deep drive to right fielder Adam Fogel.
But after DeMiero departed with a 2-1 lead, the Lions scored two runs in the eighth.
LMU loaded the bases with one out on Niko Decolati’s bloop single and two walks off freshman right-hander Cade Smith.
“He has to do a better job,” Trapasso said of Smith. “He can’t come out of the bullpen walking guys. He knows that. He’s going to be really good, but he wasn’t tonight.”
Dylan Thomas, who had converted all 12 of his save opportunities the past two seasons, was summoned to replace Smith. Thomas induced Ryan Ruley to hit a chopper to third. But Ethan Lopez’s throw to the plate was wide right of catcher Tyler Murray as Decolati and pinch runner Dylan Hirsch scored.
“I thought he had enough time to set his feet,” Trapasso said of Lopez. “He thought he had to get rid of it a bit sooner. The reality is he’ll make that throw nine out of 10 times. It was the 10th time, and he didn’t make it.”
Lopez said: “I rushed the throw. Looking back now, I could have tagged third and looked for other options. It was a heat-in-the-moment play. Like coach said, I make that play nine out of 10 times, especially with the bases loaded.”
The Lions added an insurance run in the ninth on Nick Sogard’s first homer of the season, a drive over the wall in right field.
The Lions closed to 2-1 thanks to the ’Bows’ generosity in the sixth inning. Decolati, who is considered a high-draft prospect, reached second on a combo single and error. Decolati then went to third on Jamey Smart’s groundout to second and came home on another error by Lopez.
The ’Bows, who were shut out in Thursday’s series opener and held scoreless in the first two innings, broke through to take a 1-0 lead in the third.
Murray pulled a single to left and advanced to second on Jedd Andrade’s sacrifice. Vchulek then singled to center to score Murray.
The ’Bows made it 2-0 in the fourth. Fogel doubled to left-center and, one out later, scooted to third on Lopez’s single to left. Demeter, who was hitting .111, hit a deep fly to center field to score Fogel.
