Arakawa completes task

Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso was all set to pull his starter, but Jarrett Arakawa had other ideas.

Arakawa convinced Trapasso to let him stay in for the ninth inning, and the sophomore left-hander closed out his first career complete game, leading Hawaii to a 5-1 victory over Central Michigan on Friday night.

Arakawa allowed his only walk to start the ninth, but got Jordan Adams to ground into a double play and Sam Russell to fly out to right on his 111th pitch in front of a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,127.

"I told (Trapasso) I wanted to finish it and he put me on a pitch count," said Arakawa, who had thrown 102 pitches through eight. "It feels good to rest the bullpen for a big doubleheader (today) and try to win the series."

Trapasso was all set to go to his bullpen when Arakawa convinced him to let his pitcher start the ninth.

"I took him out, but he wanted to go back out," said Trapasso, who wasn’t going to let Arakawa throw more than 115 pitches. "I told him if we didn’t score, he’d go back out there and he walks the leadoff guy but gets the double play. It was big for him."

Arakawa (2-0) allowed six hits and struck out a season-high eight. He’s pitched into the eighth inning in his past two outings and wasn’t affected by his start being pushed back a day after the postponement of Thursday’s game.

"I was kind of antsy after yesterday’s game being canceled," said the ‘Iolani alumnus, who lowered his season ERA to 1.63. "You’ve got to prepare yourself again all over and get mentally ready and I did and felt good out there."

Zack Swasey went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, and Stephen Ventimilia went 2-for-2 with three walks and one of three stolen bases by the Rainbows (10-5).

Ventimilia reached base five more times and has done so at least once in every game this season.

"That’s the kind of team we are — small ball and scrap and scrap," Ventimilia said. "Today it worked out and I think it was one of our best games of the year as a whole."

Tom Lally was the only Central Michigan batter to reach third base, tagging Arakawa for a leadoff triple in the eighth.

CMU starter Zach Cooper (0-2) was credited with the loss, allowing five runs on six hits with four walks and four strikeouts.

"This club that we’re playing is athletic, they have power arms and they’re scary offensively with two or three guys in their lineup that can really drive the ball," Trapasso said. "They’re a good club and I think that even adds to the job Jarrett did."

Garrett Champion, making his sixth start of the season at catcher, put the Rainbows ahead with an RBI single off Cooper in the second inning.

A throwing error by Nick Regnier allowed Pi‘ikea Kitamura to score, and Ventimilia followed with a base hit to score Kaeo Aliviado, giving UH a 3-0 lead.

Hawaii tacked on a run in the fourth after its first two batters struck out. Ventimilia and Breland Almadova drew consecutive walks, and William Arnold’s throw to first on a grounder by Collin Bennett was offline, allowing Ventimilia to score on the error.

Conner George added a two-out RBI single in the fifth, scoring Swasey for the second time for a 5-0 lead.

The series ends today with a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. Fans who purchased a ticket to Thursday’s postponed game will be admitted to the first game and will be allowed to stay for the nightcap.