A season-high win streak will keep this year’s Hawaii baseball team from setting a school record for futility.
Lawrence Chew recorded a three-inning save and Kaeo Aliviado went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored in Hawaii’s 5-4 victory over UC Riverside on Thursday at the Riverside (Calif.) Sports Complex.
Connor Little (3-6) lasted six innings in his second win in six days for the Rainbows (16-33, 11-14 Big West), who have won four straight for the first time this season.
The victory gives UH 16 victories overall, matching the 2002 team that went 16-40, which is the lowest win total dating back to 1974, when Hawaii played only 17 games.
It also means Hawaii, which is assured a better winning percentage than it had in 2002, will finish in seventh place in its first season in the Big West Conference.
"That was a good win for us," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "I was really impressed with the guys today with our energy level and our dugout demeanor and how locked in our kids were from the first pitch."
Chew picked up his fourth save in his last five outings after replacing Little with a runner on second and nobody out in the seventh inning.
He retired the first six batters he faced before giving up consecutive singles to start the ninth.
UC Riverside moved the runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt and scored a run on a sacrifice fly before Chew got Devyn Bolasky to ground out to the pitcher to end it.
"Both base hits they got were ground balls that got through and Chew was making good pitches so you just hope he keeps making good pitches," Trapasso said. "It came down to one guy, their leadoff guy who I like, he’s a good player, and Chew made a great pitch on him and he just hit a little nubber right back to (Chew)."
In his final game with the Rainbows, Little allowed three runs on seven hits in six innings with two walks and a strikeout.
He ends his senior season with a career-high 96 innings pitched and a 4.12 ERA with two complete games and 52 strikeouts.
"Once we got the big lead, the focus was really to get Connor that win," Trapasso said. "He started losing command and started getting upright, which is a sign of fatigue for him and he was already at 100 pitches, so we made the change."
Pi‘ikea Kitamura went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI and Marc Flores went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, driving in the first two UH runs with a first-inning single.
Hawaii, which has scored first in all four wins during its streak, has outscored its opponents 11-2 in the first five innings during that span.
Hawaii led 5-0 against the Highlanders (12-32, 8-17) after scoring three runs in the fifth.
The Rainbows took advantage of two Riverside throwing errors to score twice and Kitamura added a two-out RBI single for the five-run lead.
Junior southpaw Dylan Stuart (3-9) pitched his third complete game of the season in the loss, allowing eight hits with no walks and six strikeouts.
Stephen Ventimilia went 0-for-3 with a run scored to end a season-high eight-game hitting streak.
Senior Corey MacDonald (7-5) will try to win his fourth straight start in Game 2 of the series today at 3 p.m. MacDonald can become the first UH pitcher since Ian Harrington and Steven Wright in 2006 to throw 100 innings in a season if he can last at least six. He has gone at least six innings in 12 consecutive starts.
