Miscues help USF beat UH

Kyle Zimmer didn’t need any help from Hawaii on Friday night.

The Rainbows gave him some anyway.

All three San Francisco runs were unearned and were more than enough support for Zimmer, who went the distance in a 3-0 shutout of Hawaii at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Dons (10-9) evened the series at a game apiece behind their right-handed ace, who quieted a crowd of 2,223, giving up three hits while striking out 11.

"I just felt like I was making my pitches and hitting my spots," said Zimmer, who threw 123 pitches and maxed out his fastball at 96 mph. "I got to get extended there in the ninth and I felt good."

Zimmer (1-1) earned his first win of the season for USF, which is 5-5 against the Western Athletic Conference this season.

The Dons are coming off a four-game split against Fresno State in which Zimmer was rocked for six runs in six innings.

"I think that’s why he really wanted to stay in there tonight — he wanted to get us a win and get himself going in the right direction," USF coach Nino Giarratano said. "I tried to get him out of there in the eighth and he fought to stay in there until the ninth, so good for him."

Justin Maffei went 2-for-4 with a double and scored one of USF’s three runs, all of which came off Hawaii errors.

UH, which entered the series ranked in the top 40 in the country in fielding percentage, has committed seven errors in the first two games, accounting for all four USF runs.

Hawaii starter Jarrett Arakawa (2-1) was saddled with the loss despite lowering his ERA to a minuscule 1.34. The sophomore left-hander didn’t walk a batter, either, allowing five hits in six innings with five strikeouts.

"It was going to be a game where we couldn’t make any mistakes pitching and on defense," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "We’re not going to win any games making four errors, especially against a guy like (Zimmer) on the mound."

Two of Hawaii’s three hits were nearly home runs, as Zack Swasey and Max Duval both hit doubles off the wall. The Rainbows (12-7) drew three walks off of Zimmer, who had only issued one free pass all year, but were 0-for-8 with men in scoring position.

"The truth is we got better swings today than we did (Thursday) night off of (Alex) Balog," Trapasso said. "Zimmer just really made the pitches when they counted."

Matt Chavez gave USF an early 1-0 lead when he reached on a hard-hit ball to third that was ruled an error on Collin Bennett.

Ted LeMasters followed with a single and Mason Morioka lifted a sacrifice fly to right that scored Chavez in the second inning.

Maffei made it 2-0 Dons in the third after reaching second on a one-out double. Jason Mahood followed with a ground ball to short that Pi‘ikea Kitamura threw wide at third, allowing Maffei to score on the play.

USF increased its lead to 3-0 when Kaeo Aliviado, who started in left field after missing Thursday night’s game with the flu, misjudged a routine fly ball, allowing Mahood to score from third.

Aliviado saved another run, however, when he threw out Adam Clear at the plate trying to score on a two-out single by Morioka.

"I just lost it in the lights and just misjudged it," Aliviado said of the error. "The thing is we can’t really do anything about that now but come out (today) and try to play our game."

Freshman Scott Squier (3-1, 2.18) will try for his fourth consecutive win when he opposes USF right-hander Abe Bobb (3-1, 2.00) tonight at 6:05.