As it has most of the season, Hawaii opened a series with a dominant pitching performance.
The difference this week is who threw it.
With senior Matt Cooper starting Saturday’s season finale, junior Scott Squier stepped up and delivered his first nine-inning complete game of the season in a 5-1 victory over UC Riverside on Thursday night.
A Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,077 saw Hawaii (21-30, 5-17 Big West) win its first league game of the season at home.
Squier (5-5), who threw two seven-inning complete games earlier this season, went nine innings for the first time since last season and tied a career high with nine strikeouts, including three in the final inning of a brilliant 124-pitch performance.
"It’s a great way for him to close out his career here with, in my mind, the best game he’s ever thrown," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "From start to finish he had command of all of his pitches and commanded his slider as good as he ever has."
Squier has a year of eligibility remaining but will likely get picked and sign after next month’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
He scattered seven hits and three walks and came up big in the ninth inning with three strikeouts despite throwing for the sixth time in Hawaii’s past seven games.
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5
HAWAII
1
UC RIVERSIDE
KEY: Left-hander Scott Squier pitches a complete game
NEXT: UH vs. UC Riverside, 6:35 p.m. Friday, OCSports (Ch. 16)
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"The ninth inning was like a whole different adrenaline rush and I really wanted to go out there and finish a complete game," Squier said. "I felt it a little bit in the ninth when I walked out thinking this could be the last time I walk out here so I wanted to go out with a good showing."
Squier was helped out by an offense that hadn’t scored more than three runs in the opening game of a Big West series all season.
Hawaii surpassed that in the seventh inning as Kaeo Aliviado chased UC Riverside starter Jacob Smigelski with an RBI single to make it 4-1.
Smigelski dropped to 8-6 after allowing five runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings for the Highlanders (25-27, 11-11).
Aliviado finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Stephen Ventimilia singled and scored twice.
"Those three runs in the seventh inning really put it away and Scott did a great job closing it out," Aliviado said. "Scott was the player of the game in my eyes. The way that he went out today, everything was working for him, he pounded the strike zone and he was locked in today."
Aliviado’s aggressiveness allowed UH to take a 1-0 lead in the first when he took off on a wild pitch that didn’t get far away from UC Riverside catcher Matthew Ellis, who tried to throw him out at second.
The ball sailed into center field, allowing Ventimilia to score from third after a leadoff single.
Hawaii made it 2-0 when Austin Wobrock scored on another wild pitch by Smigelski after Kalei Hanawahine’s base hit moved Wobrock to third.
Smigelski didn’t give up another hit until Marc Flores hit his team-leading 11th double with two outs in the sixth.
Squier gave up his only run in the sixth inning on Drake Zarate’s one-out RBI triple to right-center that scored David Andriese, who reached on a leadoff walk.
Zarate tried to score on Ellis’ fly ball to right, but Hanawahine threw him out at the plate to preserve UH’s 2-1 lead.
Game 2 of the series is Friday night at 6:35 with right-hander Scott Kuzminsky (4-7, 2.88 ERA) pitching his final game for UH.
HAWAII 5, UC RIVERSIDE 1
| UCR |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
UH |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
| Chavez 2b |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Ventimilia 2b |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
| Bolasky cf |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Aliviado cf |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
| Walker lf |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Hurley lf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Andriese rf |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Flores 1b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
| Tellez 1b |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Richartz dh |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Zarate dh |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Wobrock ss |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Ellis c |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Young c |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Hough 3b |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Hanawahine rf |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Rubanowitz ss |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Brewster 3b |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Chang ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Totals |
33 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
Totals |
29 |
5 |
8 |
2 |
| UCR (22-27, 11-11 BWC) |
000 |
001 |
000 |
— |
1 |
7 |
3 |
| UH (21-30, 5-17 BWC) |
110 |
000 |
30X |
— |
5 |
8 |
0 |
E—Ellis; Hough; Rubanowitz. DP—Hawaii 1. LOB—UCR 10; Hawaii 4. 2B—Bolasky; Flores. 3B—Zarate. HBP—Chavez. SH—Young. SF—Hurley. SB—Andriese. CS—Ventimilia.
| UC RIVERSIDE |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Smigelski (L, 8-6) |
61/3 |
8 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
| Sprague |
12/3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| HAWAII |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Squier (W, 5-5) |
9 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
9 |
WP—Smigelski 3; Squier. HBP— by Squier (Chavez; Andriese) Umpires—(Plate): Adam Dowdy. (First): Frank Pflugradt. (Third): Gary Montalbo, Jr. T—2:10. A—1,077.
BIG WEST STANDINGS
| |
Conference |
|
|
|
Overall |
| |
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L |
| Cal Poly |
19 |
5 |
.792 |
— |
45 |
10 |
| UC Irvine |
15 |
7 |
.682 |
3 |
35 |
20 |
| Long Beach St. |
15 |
7 |
.682 |
3 |
30 |
24 |
| CS Fullerton |
12 |
10 |
.545 |
6 |
30 |
22 |
| UC Riverside |
11 |
11 |
.500 |
7 |
25 |
27 |
| UCSB* |
10 |
12 |
.455 |
8 |
32 |
17 |
| UC Davis |
7 |
15 |
.318 |
11 |
23 |
29 |
| CS Northridge |
6 |
16 |
.273 |
12 |
18 |
36 |
| Hawaii |
5 |
17 |
.227 |
13 |
21 |
30 |
*includes one tie for overall record
Thursday
Hawaii 5, UC Riverside 1
UC Santa Barbara 7, UC Davis 1
Long Beach State 3, UC Irvine 2
Cal State Fullerton 4, Cal State Northridge 2
Friday
UC Riverside at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m., Les Murakami Stadium
UC Santa Barbara at UC Davis
UC Irvine at Long Beach State
Cal State Northridge at Cal State Fullerton
Saturday
UC Riverside at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m., Les Murakami Stadium
UC Santa Barbara at UC Davis
UC Irvine at Long Beach State
Cal State Northridge at Cal State Fullerton
