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Stop the presses!
Senior Corey MacDonald threw his first complete game and Hawaii scored a season high in runs to snap a season-opening 10-game losing streak with an 8-3 win over Loyola Marymount on Saturday at the UNLV Rebel Classic in Las Vegas.
Kalei Hanawahine went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs and two RBIs, and Marc Flores was 2-for-4 with a double and three runs for the Rainbows (1-10), who had lost a program-record 12 straight dating back to last season.
Trevor Podratz singled and scored twice and Adam Hurley went 2-for-5 with an RBI as Hawaii avenged a 9-0 loss to the Lions (4-7) two days ago.
"Two days in a row we’ve swung the bats well, and the big difference today is we did it off a good pitcher," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "(Aaron Griffin) has tremendous stuff, and that’s the first really good pitcher that we’ve been able to knock around a little bit."
With the loss of today’s probable starter, Quintin Torres-Costa, to an elbow injury on Friday, Trapasso needed MacDonald (1-1) to eat up innings on Saturday.
The 6-foot-6 senior responded with Hawaii’s first nine-inning complete game since Jarrett Arakawa tossed one against Central Michigan on March 9 of last year.
MacDonald threw 101 pitches and allowed five hits and one earned run with two walks and five strikeouts.
"Corey just had really good stuff today, even there at the end," Trapasso said. "It wasn’t just big because it saved the rest of the staff, but it was big because he had really good stuff."
MacDonald gave up a two-out double in the first and didn’t give up another hit until Joey Boney’s one-out single in the eighth.
The Lions got four hits in the final two innings, but the Rainbows turned a key double play in the ninth to allow MacDonald to finish the game.
Hanawahine singled and scored Hawaii’s first run in the third after Austin Wobrock forced a throwing error with a perfect bunt down the third-base line.
Hurley added a two-out RBI single to give UH a 2-0 lead that didn’t last long.
The Lions scored three times in the bottom of the inning to take the lead without a hit.
MacDonald walked the first two batters, and two errors and a wild pitch allowed LMU to go ahead 3-2.
"That’s one inning that can’t happen," Trapasso said. "We threw the ball around like a high school team after two walks to lead the inning off, and I was about ready to pull what hair I have left out."
Hawaii answered quickly to take a 5-3 lead in the fourth as Hanawahine hit an RBI double and Podratz scored on a wild pitch. Wobrock tacked on an RBI single to score Hanawahine for a two-run lead.
Flores added to the lead in the fifth, singling with two outs. He stole second and scored on a Podratz single as Hawaii manufactured a run with two outs.
Podratz’s hit chased Griffin, who allowed six runs on seven hits in 42⁄3 innings.
Hanawahine drove in his second run with a single in the eighth, and Alan Baldwin was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for the game’s final run.
Hawaii will close the tournament today with a game against host UNLV at 4 p.m. UH ends its road trip with another game against the Rebels on Monday at the same time.
Trapasso said he hadn’t decided on a starter and would likely choose between sophomore Lawrence Chew and senior Jon Flinn and staff the game.
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