Quintin Torres-Costa had better put an ice pack on his left arm real quick after every game he pitches.
The sophomore left-hander is going to be pretty busy the rest of this season.
Torres-Costa finished off a four-hit shutout started by L.J. Brewster with three strikeouts over the final two innings and Hawaii won the opener of a three-game series with CSUN 1-0 on Friday night despite getting only two hits.
Stephen Ventimilia singled to lead off the game and scored the only run on a wild pitch as Hawaii (13-23, 4-6 Big West) snapped a four-game losing streak in front of a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 2,121.
Close games have been an Achilles’ heel for the Rainbow Warriors this season, but the pitching of Brewster and Torres-Costa allowed the ‘Bows to improve to 3-13 in games decided by one ortwo runs.
"I told these kids before the game that, you know, they deserve to win these close games they keep losing, if you quit hoping to win and just go make it happen," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "The only way you make it happen is by throwing strikes and not making errors and quit walking guys."
Torres-Costa allowed a leadoff single before retiring six in a row to earn his second save. In his past seven outings, he’s given up five hits in 13 scoreless innings with four walks and 20 strikeouts.
"This gives us a lot of confidence knowing we can win those one-run ballgames," Torres-Costa said. "It gives us confidence to know we can trust our bullpen and know we can trust our defense to make plays."
Torres-Costa needed only 21 pitches to get through the final two innings and should be available to pitch again if needed.
The closer role is certainly his, as he was able to nail down the fifth win of the season for Brewster (5-3), who allowed only three hits over seven innings.
Brewster struck out five and walked only one after giving up 20 bases on balls in his previous 252⁄3 innings spanning four starts.
"I’ve been struggling throwing strikes lately, but today I kept my walks down, and I felt comfortable pounding the zone and throwing all of my pitches for strikes," Brewster said. "(Torres-Costa) has been lights out in his last few outings and as a starter, we like to trust people once we get out of the game and we’re starting to build a lot of trust in our bullpen."
Hawaii didn’t commit an error and had to play close to perfect to beat CSUN starter Calvin Copping (4-4).
The right-hander held UH to two hits in eight innings with four strikeouts and walked five in a tough loss for the Matadors (22-14, 2-8).
"When you win a game with two hits, on a Friday, you feel like you might have snuck one out of the series," Trapasso said.
Ventimilia singled up the middle to lead off the game and got to third after two walks loaded the bases.
Copping unleashed a fastball that catcher Dylan Alexander couldn’t grab and it bounced off the face mask of plate umpire Gary Gilman.
Ventimilia raced in to score and that would be the only time a runner crossed home plate.
"He was struggling finding his slider early, but by the third inning I walked over to (assistant coach) Carl (Fraticelli) and said we’re going to have to really pitch well tonight because he found his slider, started leading it for a strike first pitch and he’s good," Trapasso said. "I can see why his numbers are so good and why he had so many strikeouts."
Fraticelli coached at third base in place of Rusty McNamara, who was sent home before the game with the flu.
Hawaii’s only other hit was a leadoff single by Eric Ramirez in the seventh inning.
| HAWAII 1, CSUN 0 |
| CSUN |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
HAWAII |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
| Raslowsky 2b |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Ventimilia 2b |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| Akitoshi ss |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Baldwin rf/lf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Toerner cf |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Aliviado cf |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Bumstead 1b |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Sawelson dh |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Alexander c |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Ramirez 1b |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Pak rf |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Doi lf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Orona lf |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
LoCoco pr/rf |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Weiss dh |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Ka’aua c |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Colantono 3b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Kitaoka 3b |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| |
|
|
|
|
Shel-Collns ss |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Totals |
29 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
Totals |
24 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
| CSUN (22-14, 2-8 bwc) |
000 |
000 |
000 |
– |
0 |
4 |
1 |
| HAWAII (13-23, 4-6 bwc) |
100 |
000 |
00X |
— |
1 |
2 |
0 |
E–Copping. DP–CSUN 1. LOB–CSUN 6; Hawaii 5. HBP–Raslowsky. S–Raslowsky; Orona; Baldwin. SB–Raslowsky; Orona.
| CSUN |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Copping (L, 4-4) |
8 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
| HAWAII |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
| Brewster (W, 5-3) |
7 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
|
| Torres-Costa (S, 1) |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
WP–Copping. HBP–by Brewster (Raslowsky). Umpires–(Plate): Gary Gilman. (First): Johnny Pineda. (Third): Don Crane. T–2:20. A–2,121.
| BIG WEST STANDINGS |
| |
Conference |
Overall |
| |
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L |
| UC Irvine |
8 |
2 |
.800 |
— |
21 |
13 |
| UC Santa Barbara |
5 |
2 |
.714 |
1 1/2 |
27 |
8 |
| CS Fullerton |
6 |
3 |
.667 |
1 1/2 |
19 |
17 |
| Cal Poly |
4 |
3 |
.571 |
2 1/2 |
15 |
19 |
| UC Davis |
5 |
5 |
.500 |
3 |
21 |
14* |
| Long Beach St. |
5 |
5 |
.500 |
3 |
19 |
14 |
| Hawaii |
4 |
6 |
.400 |
4 |
13 |
23 |
| CSUN |
2 |
8 |
.200 |
6 |
22 |
14 |
| UC Riverside |
1 |
6 |
.143 |
5 1/2 |
11 |
24 |
| *includes one tie for overall record |
Friday
Hawaii 1, CSUN 0
UC Santa Barbara 8, Cal Poly 7
UC Riverside 3, Long Beach State 2
UC Davis 8, UC Irvine 3
Maryland 2, CS Fullerton 1
Saturday
CSUN at Hawaii, 6:35 p.m., Les Murakami Stadium
UC Davis at UC Irvine
UC Riverside at Long Beach State
Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara
CS Fullerton at Maryland
Sunday
CSUN at Hawaii, 1:05 p.m.
UC Riverside at Long Beach State
UC Davis at UC Irvine
Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara
CS Fullerton at Maryland
