Thomas Eshelman’s shortest outing of his career came two years ago in a loss to Hawaii at Les Murakami Stadium.
In two starts against the Rainbow Warriors since, the Cal State Fullerton right-hander hasn’t given up a run.
Eshelman followed up last season’s 10-inning shutout of Hawaii with nine more scoreless innings to give the visiting Titans a 4-0 win in the series opener on Friday night before a crowd of 2,742.
Eshelman (7-5), the reigning Big West Pitcher of the Week, struck out 12 to move the Titans (29-22, 14-5 Big West) one step closer to a conference title and wipe out any hopes of a miracle finish for Hawaii (21-27, 12-10), which ended a six-game winning streak.
The loss eliminated Hawaii from BWC title contention and clinched a third straight losing season overall.
"This was all about Eshelman and he is that good and has been that good and is going to be a millionaire in a few weeks," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "We didn’t play bad, we just got beat by a great pitcher."
Fullerton has won the past six games against Hawaii with four shutouts, including a 1-0 win last year in which Eshelman scattered six hits over 10 innings with six strikeouts.
He didn’t walk a batter once again and allowed five hits on Friday night, throwing 36 of his first 43 pitches for strikes.
It was a much different outcome from two years ago, when Eshelman lasted only 31⁄3 innings and gave up six hits.
"The moment I stepped foot onto the field when we practiced (Thursday), that was in the back of my mind," Eshelman said. "Obviously I wanted a different outcome tonight and I know (Hawaii) has been playing very well right now so it’s good to get the first one."
Eshelman, who has only walked 17 in 3442⁄3 career innings, didn’t have his first two-ball count until the leadoff hitter in the fourth inning. UH didn’t advance a runner safely into scoring position the entire game.
"I told Mike (Trapasso) I’m going to try and keep (Eshelman) around one more year," Cal State Fullerton coach Rick Vanderhook said. "With the loss of (Justin) Garza this week, Tommy took a little more on his shoulders tonight and we didn’t have to use the bullpen tonight which is a big deal."
Fullerton is without Garza, its No. 2 starter, for the rest of the season after he was pulled from his last outing with a ligament tear in his elbow that will require Tommy John surgery.
Hawaii starter L.J. Brewster dropped to 6-5 overall, allowing two runs on four hits in 52⁄3 innings.
He couldn’t finish the sixth after laboring through a 43-pitch first inning.
David Olmedo-Barrera, who went 3-for-3 with a home run, swung away at a 3-0 pitch and doubled into the left-center gap to drive in Tyler Stieb, who drew one of three first-inning walks by Brewster.
Brewster kept it to only one run striking out Timmy Richards with the bases loaded and then settled into the game, retiring nine of 10 Fullerton batters at one point.
"He was just out of whack even though it was probably the best 43-pitch one-spot I’ve ever seen," Trapasso said. "We had a couple of situations where the game could have been over right away but we were able to manage it and did that all night."
Fullerton doubled its lead in the sixth when Jerrod Bravo beat a high throw from shortstop Jacob Sheldon-Collins at home on a fielder’s choice.
Tanner Pinkston added an RBI double in the seventh inning to score Olmedo-Barrera, who crushed his seventh homer of the season to lead off the top of the ninth.
Eric Ramirez had two hits for Hawaii while Sheldon-Collins saw his six-game hitting streak end.
The Rainbows still need a win in the next two games to finish with a winning record in league. They would be the only team in two years to finish with a winning BWC record and not make an NCAA regional.
Junior Tyler Brashears (8-4, 1.78 ERA), who is tied for the conference lead in wins, will start Saturday’s game at a special start time of 8:05 p.m.
