Rainbows bomb UC Davis

Jarrett Arakawa came back for a fifth year for the opportunity to pitch in a game like Saturday night’s.

The left-hander will attempt to finish off a three-game sweep of UC Davis and get Hawaii into the Big West race after the Rainbow Warriors rolled the Aggies 11-3 on Friday night.

Junior Tyler Brashears was filthy in eight innings of work, striking out a career-high nine, and the offense piled up 12 hits in front of a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 2,229.

"When we get that lead early like we did again, it makes it so much easier to pitch," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "Tyler was relaxed today with the lead and really good. We turned a couple of big double plays with confidence and it was a good all-around game."

Arakawa has worked five innings in three consecutive starts and has given up only two earned runs in 17 innings total returning from a second labrum surgery.

Hawaii (11-19, 2-3 Big West) needed a series win at the minimum against UC Davis to save its season and can now make up for the three losses to UC Irvine if it can finish off the Aggies (18-9-1, 3-2).

"A series win is nice, but a sweep is really what you want to go for," Arakawa said. "Especially when there is no (Big West) tournament, every game is kind of it’s own game, so we want to win (Saturday) as much as any other game."

The bottom of Hawaii’s lineup did serious damage again on Friday. Catcher Chayce Ka‘aua hit a three-run double for the first runs of the game and shortstop Jacob Sheldon-Collins, the No. 9 Hawaii hitter, went 3-for-5 with a triple, two runs and two RBIs.

Ka‘aua and Sheldon-Collins have combined to go 8-for-14 with seven runs and five RBIs in two games against UC Davis. Hawaii has outscored the Aggies, who had won seven straight and 10 of 11 coming in, 19-6.

"Bottom of the order really helped us out and really carried us today," Trapasso said.

Brashears notched a career high in strikeouts by the fifth inning and retired 10 in a row before the Aggies opened the sixth with three straight singles.

UC Davis had the bases loaded with nobody out for Austin March, the cleanup hitter, who hit a grounder to the left of Stephen Ventimilia at second.

Ventimilia made a great play to get it to second and start a not-so-easy double play that scored one run, but that was it as Brashears struck out catcher Izaak Silva on three pitches.

Brashears did not walk a batter and pitched into the eighth inning for the first time this season.

"From the first inning I felt like I had good stuff," Brashears said. "Once we had that four-run inning I think everyone except for maybe one or two hitters we were first-pitch fastball every time trying to get ahead and then letting them get themselves out."

The second inning was kind to the Rainbow Warriors again, as Hawaii put up a four-spot for the second straight night.

UC Davis starter Orlando Razo, who had a 2.50 ERA in 392⁄3 innings entering the game, lost command with four walks in the inning.

Ka‘aua emptied the bases with a three-run double inside the bag at third to put Hawaii on the board and Kaeo Aliviado lifted a sacrifice fly to score Ka‘aua to make it 4-0.

Razo threw a strike to Alex Sawelson in the next at-bat before signaling to the visitor’s dugout and was taken off with a left elbow injury.

Hawaii swiped four bases and is now 16-for-17 stealing bases this season.

UC Davis, which had a Big West-leading 74 stolen bases entering the game, went 1-for-2 against Ka‘aua, who threw out Brad Pluschkell trying to steal second to end the top of the eighth.