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Rainbows win again

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARADVERTISER.COM
Oregon's Danny Pulfer made the turn on a double play last night as Hawaii's Zach Swasey made a hard slide.

Photo gallery: Saturday Oregon vs. Hawaii baseball

No. 9 Oregon took the lead four different times and not one of them held up.

Breland Almadova hit a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Hawaii an 11-10 walkoff win over the Ducks last night at Les Murakami Stadium.

A second consecutive sold-out crowd of 3,542 saw UH pull off a second straight comeback victory after trailing in the eighth and ninth innings.

UH came back from deficits of four, three and two runs to tie the game at 9-all in the eighth. Oregon took the lead with two outs in the ninth to go up 10-9, but UH rallied yet again to pull off the stunner.

Blair Walters (2-0) got the win again for the ‘Bows while closer Scott McGough (0-1) took the loss for the Ducks. Rainbows starter Connor Little labored through four innings, allowing six runs on five hits. Aaron Jones, who finished a triple short of the cycle, hit a solo homer in the second to give the Ducks a 3-0 lead.

Hawaii answered with a three-spot of its own. A one-out single by David Peterson scored Michael Blake, who was hit by a pitch. Zack Swasey followed with a two-run double down the right-field line, scoring Peterson and Collin Bennett, who singled.

Oregon retook the lead in the third without a hit. Jack Marder was hit by a pitch to start the inning and stole second base. A groundout moved him to third and J.J. Altobelli drove Marder in with a fly ball to left field that Swasey made a diving catch on to avoid any further damage.

Altobelli came through again in the fifth, hitting a two-run double to give the Ducks a 7-3 lead. Jones started things with a leadoff double and Marcus Piazzisi followed with an RBI single to chase Little after 82 pitches. Zach Gallagher struck out Marder for the first out, but a single by Ryan Hambright set up Altobelli’s extra-base hit.

But just like in the second after Oregon put up a three-spot, UH answered yet again. The Rainbows scored four runs with two outs to tie the game at 7-all.

Pi’ikea Kitamura doubled with one out and Blake followed a Jeff Van Doornum walk with an RBI single. Bennett then laced an RBI double to right to chase Oregon starter Christian Jones after 4 2/3 innings. Reliever Brando Tessar entered the game and threw a wild pitch that scored Blake from third. Peterson followed with his third single of the game, barely beating out a groundball to short to drive in Bennett with the tying run.

Oregon took its third lead of the game in the top of the sixth after a fielding error by Matt Harrison allowed Brett Hambright to reach base. Piazzisi then drilled a ground-rule double to center to put the Ducks up 8-7.

Hawaii threatened in the bottom of the sixth, putting men on second and third with two outs. Harrison was hit by a pitch to start the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice by Breland Almadova. With two outs and Harrison at third, the Ducks intentionally walked Kolten Wong, who took second on a wild pitch.

Van Doornum worked the count full and after fouling off a pitch, struck out swinging.

Oregon got another key strikeout in the seventh when Joey Housey got Harrison looking after two-out singles by Peterson and Swasey.

 

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