Tyler Brashears went out and did what an ace is supposed to do.
The junior right-hander settled Hawaii down after a rough loss on Wednesday with seven solid innings and the Rainbow Warriors used a four-spot in the first inning to break out early in a 7-4 victory over Hofstra on Thursday night at Les Murakami Stadium.
Eric Ramirez went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs and Stephen Ventimilia doubled, tripled and drove in a run for Hawaii (2-4), which finished with 11 hits in front of a crowd of 961.
"Obviously a better effort and we played great defense," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "I was real happy with the guys to come out and get the four spot early and Tyler was good."
Brashears (1-1) wore down around the 70-pitch mark, but was tested by Trapasso after giving up two runs in the sixth. He came back out for the seventh and had runners at second and third with two outs when he painted an 0-2 cut fastball on the outside corner to strike out leadoff hitter Dalton Rouleau on his 98th pitch.
"After a night like last night, you definitely want to come out and here and set the tone and go one, two, three and let your offense go to work," said Brashears, who allowed six hits and one walk with five strikeouts. "Second and third and you’ve got to make your pitches when the time is needed. Those were all cutters and he swung over it the first at-bat so I kept going to it and he looked at strike three."
Ventimilia’s RBI triple gave UH a 5-2 lead in the sixth and Chayce Ka’aua capped the scoring with an RBI double in the seventh.
Hawaii finished with four extra-base hits and Ramirez, who has hit safely in all but one game, increased his batting average to a team-high .429.
"We came out aggressive with the bats and ready to play today," Ramirez said.
Hawaii took a 7-2 lead in the ninth when freshman Ben Mora came in to make his UH debut. Catcher Chris Hardardt and Rouleau hit two-out RBI singles to bring the tying run to the plate, forcing Trapasso to bring in reliever Cody Culp, who picked up his second save.
"I thought it was big that we got a couple late so we could put (Mora) in and let him get out there, but I felt bad for him because he was overthrowing like crazy," Trapasso said. "We couldn’t take any chances once the tying run came to the plate so we went to Cody."
The ‘Bows tagged Hofstra starter Brian MacDonald for four runs on three hits in the opening frame.
Ramirez had the big hit with a two-run double and Jordan Richartz followed with a run-scoring single that bounced off the pitcher as UH scored more runs in the opening inning than it had in four of its first five games of the season.
MacDonald, who was on the verge of exiting in the first inning, settled down to hold UH scoreless over the next four.
"We kind of stepped back and took a breath for four innings and that’s something we’ve got to guard against," Trapasso said.
Hofstra (1-4) finally broke through against Brashears, who allowed only two hits over the first five innings.
He tired in the sixth and issued a one-out walk before falling behind 2-0 to Steven Foster, who smacked a base hit to right to put runners on the corners.
Brad Witkowski hit a chopper over Alex Sawelson at third for an RBI double and Mat Annunziata drove in the second run with a deep fly to center to make it 4-2.
Brashears came back out for the seventh and was helped out by two diving catches.
Shortstop Jacob Sheldon-Collins made a diving catch in foul territory behind the bag at third for the first out and Matt LoCoco went to the ground to make a tough play in shallow right. Hofstra had runners on second and third with two outs when Brashears struck out Rouleau.
"(Brashears) showed me a second wind which is what good pitchers do, especially to that last hitter," Trapasso said. "We get their scariest hitter, their leadoff guy, with the game still tight and he’s able to throw three really good, hard cutters which showed he’s got the ability to reach back when he’s fatigued and find something to get out of a jam."
The series continues Friday night at 6:35 with sophomore Quintin Torres-Costa (0-0, 1.50 ERA) on the bump for UH.
| HAWAII 7, HOFSTRA 4 |
| HOFSTRA |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
UH |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
| Rouleau ss |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
Ventimilia 2b |
5 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
| Foster cf |
5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
LoCoco rf |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Witkowski 2b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Aliviado cf |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
| Annunziata dh |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Sawelson 3b |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Leiderman 3b |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Ramirez 1b |
4 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
| Donovan 1b |
3 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Richartz dh |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
| Fallon lf |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Baldwin lf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Russo rf |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Ka‘aua c |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
| Hagerty c |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Shldn-Cllns ss |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Weiss ph |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Weeks ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Hardardt c |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
| Totals |
35 |
4 |
10 |
4 |
Totals |
34 |
7 |
11 |
6 |
| HOFSTRA (1-4) |
000 |
002 |
002 |
— |
4 |
10 |
0 |
| UH (2-4) |
400 |
001 |
200 |
— |
7 |
11 |
0 |
DP—Hofstra 1. LOB—Hofstra 7; Hawaii 8. 2B—Witkowski, Donovan, Ventimilia, Ramirez, Ka‘aua. 3B—Ventimilia. HBP—Sawelson, Donovan, Richartz. SF—Annunziata. SB—LoCoco. CS—Leiderman.
| Hofstra |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| MacDonald (L, 0-1) |
5 |
6 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
| Seibert |
2⁄3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Mulligan |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Ryan |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Olsen |
11⁄3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| HAWAII |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Brashears (W, 1-1) |
7 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
| Valencia |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Mora |
2⁄3 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| Culp (S, 2) |
1⁄3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Ryan pitched to 3 batters in the seventh. WP—Seibert; Brashears.
HBP—by MacDonald (Sawelson); by Brashears (Donovan); by Ryan (Richartz). PB—Weiss.
Umpires—(Plate): Bill Barnes. (First): Silvo Sid. (Third): Bradley Hungerford. T—2:40. A—961.
