‘Bows Blank Waves

Matt Cooper said he was mad after throwing the worst bullpen session of his life on Sunday.

Three days later, he threw one of the best games of his University of Hawaii career.

The right-hander allowed just three hits in a dominating 2-0 complete-game win over Pepperdine on Wednesday night.

Cooper (2-0) toyed with a lineup that was hitting .328 coming into the series. He tied a career high with 10 strikeouts with no walks to treat a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 1,062 to Hawaii’s fifth straight win.

He matched a three-hitter he threw against Gonzaga last season, but said this outing was his best ever.

"Yeah, I think it was," Cooper said. "It feels cool, especially being the last home game before we go on the road."

He threw 83 of his 107 pitches for strikes and allowed just one runner to reach second base.

He ended five different innings with strikeouts, including the ninth, when he punched out the side.

"Three days ago I threw probably the worst bullpen of my life and I was mad after," said Cooper, who hasn’t allowed an earned run in 21 innings. "I took the mentality out here to be aggressive, rear back and shove tonight and it worked out for me."

He allowed only one earned run in his first 29 innings last year and lowered his career ERA at home to 1.60.

"That’s the kind of performance we had to have to beat Pepperdine because that’s a good team they have over there," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "It’s the first time this year (Cooper) had his full arsenal and even the best teams are going to struggle against him when he throws strikes like that."

Hawaii (5-4) got enough offense from the middle of its order, as Kaeo Aliviado walked and scored in the sixth and Marc Flores drove an RBI double off the wall in right-center in the eighth.

"This is the way that we know we can play. It shouldn’t surprise anyone," catcher Alan Baldwin said. "When (Cooper) is out there throwing that well, my job is easy. All I have to do is catch the ball."

Pepperdine lefty Matt Maurer (0-1) took the loss for the Waves (6-2), who had their four-game winning streak snapped.

Aliviado, who singled in the third to raise his average to .351, drew a leadoff walk to start the sixth with the game still scoreless. Jordan Richartz followed with an infield single and Flores, who is hitting .471 since the Oregon series, dropped a single to right-center to load the bases with nobody out.

Conner George lined a sacrifice fly to center to drive in UH’s first run.

Flores made it 2-0 in the eighth with an RBI double off reliever Evan Dunn that bounced off the wall in right-center.

Flores finished 3-for-3 with a walk and combined with Richartz to record five of Hawaii’s seven hits.

Maurer’s day ended after issuing a two-out walk to Kalei Hanawahine in the seventh. He gave up the one run on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts in his second start.

"He kept us for the most part off-balance, but we were working counts, getting decent swings, and you got the feeling if we could match him pitch-for-pitch with the way Cooper was throwing we could get a run across late," Trapasso said.

Cooper retired the first seven batters before Pepperdine catcher Kolten Yamaguchi, a Konawaena High alumnus, singled with one out in the fourth.

Cooper got Yamaguchi to ground out to second with a runner on third in the fifth, and Pepperdine threatened one more time in the seventh. Austin Davidson singled to lead off, but Bryan Langlois grounded into a double play. Cooper retired the last eight batters he faced, striking out four.

UH will start lefty Scott Squier (1-0, 3.21) in the second game of the series Thursday night at 6:35.

DP—Pepperdine 1, Hawaii 1. LOB—Pepperdine 2, Hawaii 9. 2B—Flores. HBP—Richartz. SH—Jones. SF—George. SB—George.

WP—Cooper. HBP—by Dunn (Richartz). Umpires—(Plate): Jeff Henrichs. (First): Billy Haze. (Third): Greg Charles. T—2:02. A—1,062.