Rees, seniors leave home winners for University of Hawaii baseball team

On a day when the Hawaii baseball seniors bid farewell, junior Jackson Rees made a successful comeback in Sunday’s 4-1 victory over Long Beach State.

Rees departed Friday’s start after seven pitches when he was struck on the mouth by a return throw. Rees required five stitches to close the split lip, but was fit enough to return to the mound on Sunday for his 14th start.

In six innings, Rees allowed four hits and one unearned run, departing with a 3-1 lead. Adam Fogel provided an insurance run with his seventh home run of the season, the most since Kolten Wong’s total in 2011. Dylan Thomas retired seven of the eight batters he faced for his 14th save, matching the school record.

“It was important for us to win that game, and to just play well,” said UH coach Mike Trapasso, whose team was outscored a combined 15-2 by the Dirtbags on Friday and Saturday.

By winning this year’s final game at Les Murakami Stadium, the Rainbow Warriors improved to 26-22 overall and 10-11 in the Big West. The ’Bows clinched a winning regular season for the second consecutive year. They close the season on the road with a three-game series against UC Santa Barbara beginning Thursday.

“It was the first game we played well this weekend,” Trapasso said. “It was so disappointing because we played so well (a week earlier) at Fresno. (The Dirtbags) were the reason we played so poor the first two days because they were so good. Jackson came up big.”

Following Friday’s game, Rees was told he did not suffer anything more serious than a cut lip. Trapasso consulted with Rees on Saturday night before choosing his Sunday starter.

While Rees warmed up, the stadium speakers played Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping.” The opening lyrics are: “I get knocked down, but I get up again. You are never going to keep me down.”

“I thought it would be fun,” Rees said of his musical selection. “I got knocked down, but I had to get up again. … I definitely wanted this game. I definitely wanted to compete.”

It was a significant appearance for Rees, who earned his bachelor’s degree last week. As a junior, he is eligible for selection in next month’s Major League Baseball Draft. Scouts have indicted he will be chosen. If drafted, he also would have the option of returning to UH for his senior season.

For now, Rees said, “I was happy to get the win for our seniors.”

Rees relied on a fastball that reached 93 mph, a changeup and slider. “My arm felt good,” Rees said. “The fastball command was good.”

Trapasso, who also serves as pitching coach, called the pitches until he was ejected in the bottom of the seventh. The ouster ignited when Johnny Weeks stole second after Fogel struck out swinging. Long Beach coach Troy Buckley argued that Fogel interfered with catcher Chris Jimenez’s throw to second. Umpire Ryan Goodman ruled it was a back-swing violation, and ordered Weeks to return to first base.

Trapasso was ejected after claiming Goodman made a ruling on a protest different from Buckley’s complaint. “More than anything else, after the couple of days, I thought our guys needed to possibly get a little fired up.”

Weeks eventually scored on Chayce Ka‘aua’s double to extend UH’s lead to 3-1.

In the seventh, Fogel smacked an opposite-field drive over the wall in right.

“The first couple (at-bats) I wasn’t really feeling my swing,” Fogel said. “The third at-bat, the one I struck out on, that was the best I felt. … On the next at-bat, (Chris Rivera) threw me an inside fastball, and I squared it up.”

After that, it was left to Thomas and catcher Kekai Rios, who assumed the pitch-calling duties. The book on Thomas is that he prefers to throw sliders.

“I figured, we needed to sneak that first fastball in,” Rios said. “Once you get that first strike in, I feel it’s game over for (Thomas).”

Thomas threw first-pitch strikes to five of the eight batters. He struck out the side in the ninth.