Bittersweep end for ‘Bows

Hawaii’s final regular-season home series showed the gap that remains between the Rainbow Warriors and the top teams in the Big West.

A six-game winning streak and hopes of a winning record in conference were blown up by a sizzling Cal State Fullerton team that completed its eighth straight win over Hawaii on Sunday evening, a 5-2 victory at Les Murakami Stadium.

Hawaii (21-29 overall), which plays three nonconference games in Arizona next weekend, went 12-12 in conference and sits in sixth place with the rest of the league finishing up in the coming week.

The first-place Titans (31-22, 16-5) were the third team to sweep Hawaii in league play. UH was 8-1 against the three teams below it in conference but finished 1-11 vs. the four teams within three games of first place heading into the final weekend.

Hawaii was held to four hits on Sunday and scored four runs all series against CSUF.

"We just didn’t score all weekend. We’ve got to score more runs than we did," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "I’m disappointed the last two days because we didn’t play as good as far as not giving up the freebees and we haven’t played that way in a couple of months really."

A crowd of 2,295 bid aloha to eight seniors playing their final home game, including fifth-year starting pitcher Jarrett Arakawa and center fielder Kaeo Aliviado.

Arakawa lasted six innings for only the second time this season and threw a season-high 98 pitches.

He gave up four runs on seven hits with a season-high five strikeouts. Only two of the four runs scored off of him were earned, as Hawaii made three costly errors behind him.

Arakawa finishes his career with a 13-8 record and a 2.58 ERA in 188 2/3 innings at home with 145 strikeouts.

Cal State Fullerton put the leadoff batter aboard in each of the first six innings.

"You can’t do that against a good team like Fullerton, but I thought Jarrett pitched great," Trapasso said. "For his senior year and everything he has gone through, tonight’s effort was the way to describe his entire career here — gutsy."

Aliviado, who hit his team-leading fifth home run in Saturday’s loss, just missed another on Sunday, hitting the top of the wall with two outs in the bottom of the third.

His double brought in Alan Baldwin to tie the game at 2 and gave him his first 30-RBI season.

He left the fans one final reminder of his stellar defensive play, robbing Taylor Bryant of a hit with a diving catch deep near the track in center for the final out in the top of the ninth inning.

"I’ve got to leave a good impression on the fans and wanted to make a good play for my teammates," Aliviado said. "I’m going to miss this place and it will always hold a special place in my heart."

He received a standing ovation when he came to bat in the bottom of the ninth and reached on an infield single to finish 2-for-4.

Pinch hitter Steven Pollakov reached on an error to bring the tying tun to the plate. Titans closer Tyler Peitzmeier finished off his 15th save, getting Eric Ramirez to hit into a game-ending double play.

"It was definitely a bittersweet feeling approaching my last at-bat, and I thank the fans and the coaches for a wonderful time here," Aliviado said. "Bouncing back from the first two years in the conference and finishing .500 is something big for us that I hope will give the team confidence in the future."

Baldwin singled, scored and drove in a run and Alex Sawelson singled for the other UH hits.

Andrew Jones retired all four batters he faced in his final outing and Juliene Jones pitched a perfect ninth inning in his first appearance since March 25.

Jerrod Brown doubled twice and scored a run and Tyler Stieb went 2-for-2 with a triple and a run scored.

Connor Seabold (3-3) held Hawaii to two runs on three hits in six innings to earn the win.

UH finishes the season with a doubleheader in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday against Abilene Christian and host Arizona.