UH Hilo shuts out UH

HILO >> Hawaii tried something different to start the 2016 season, opening away from home for the first time in 22 years.

It turned out much the same as the previous few seasons went, as another opposing pitcher made a name for himself at UH’s expense.

Jordan Kurokawa, a fifth-year senior from Maryknoll, dominated the Rainbow Warriors, throwing a two-hit shutout with seven strikeouts to give Hawaii Hilo a 1-0 victory Saturday night at Francis Wong Stadium.

Jonathan Segovia singled home the only run with two outs in the seventh inning and Kurokawa retired the final 12 batters to earn the win for the Division II Vulcans (1-0), who have won fewer than 15 games in each of the past four seasons.

“UH Manoa has always been the team I looked up to as a kid, and getting to play them to kick off my senior year was awesome,” Kurokawa said. “I came in it with a clear head and just wanted to pound the zone and keep them off first base and it worked out.”

Hawaii was shut out for the third time in its last four season openers. UH’s only two hits came on Alan Baldwin’s line drive into left field and Matt LoCoco’s grounder to short on a hit-and-run in the third inning.

Kurokawa got 14 outs on ground balls, most of which were weakly hit.

“I’m disappointed in our offensive production, but by no means am I saying that was on us,” Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “Everything centers around Kurokawa. That’s a Friday and Saturday Big West pitcher right there and we had no answer for him. He completely shut us down and left us with two hits. He commanded the zone and had tremendous life on the fastball.”

UH clocked Kurokawa at 88 to 93 miles per hour with his fastball that he threw first-pitch to nearly every hitter.

The 2011 Maryknoll graduate, who is now 6-foot-3, was named the Golden State Collegiate Baseball League pitcher of the year last summer with a 7-0 record. There were about a half-dozen scouts in attendance to see him throw and they all had to be impressed.

“Jordan pitched his (butt) off today,” said Hawaii left fielder Marcus Doi, who was robbed of an extra-base RBI hit in the sixth when he smashed a line drive that was snagged by third baseman Nate Green. “That’s baseball. Hit it hard somebody is going to catch it. Don’t hit it as hard and it’s going to fall in.”

Hawaii’s first visit to Wong Stadium since 2007 was a big deal for the local community. The announced attendance of 938 seemed on the small side, as it looked close to 90 percent capacity at the end, when Kurokawa struck out Doi on his 110th pitch to finish the game off in exactly two hours.

“It’s an awesome night. Whenever Manoa comes to town, it’s always going to be like that,” Vulcans coach Kallen Miyataki said. “We expected all of this, maybe not this much with everything going on, but it was an awesome night.”

Kurokawa fed off the energy from the beginning of the game, when he got an out on his first pitch.

After giving up the back-to-back hits, Kurokawa retired 20 of the final 21 batters he faced.

“We want to blow up (this performance) a little bit, but then again I don’t want to do it too much,” Miyataki said. “He’s worked hard for all of this.”

Hawaii starter Brendan Hornung allowed eight hits in 62⁄3 innings and kept pace with Kurokawa until giving up a two-out single in the seventh.

Hornung walked two and struck out three but allowed the leadoff man to reach in four of the seven innings he started, including the last.

“The game didn’t go as planned of course, and I let up a run in the last inning, which is the last thing you want to do,” Hornung said. “I got behind in a couple of counts, but I felt I was able to spot it really well and locate my pitches.”

The teams play again today at 1 p.m.

HAWAII HILO 1, HAWAII 0

E—Rojas. DP—Hawaii 2. LOB—Hawaii 4; Hawaii Hilo 9. HBP—Nishioka. SH—Sheldon-Collins; Segovia; Jenkerson. CS—Steering.

Umpires—(Plate): Ron Guthier. (First): Ryan Arasato. (Third): John Matson. T—2:01. A—938.