Hawaii’s last series win against a Power Five conference came more than six years ago vs. Oregon.
The Rainbow Warriors had a chance to end that drought Sunday, but couldn’t slow down a West Virginia offense that had nine extra-base hits in a 9-2 victory at Les Murakami Stadium.
Catcher Ray Guerrini belted two mammoth home runs and Darius Hill, who hit five doubles in the series, went 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs for the Mountaineers (7-3), who finished 5-2 on a seven-game road trip.
After sweeping UNLV last weekend, West Virginia needed to come up big Sunday just to split against Hawaii (6-7), which is now 11-37 in its last 48 games since that Oregon series against BCS schools.
“We had a really good offensive week in the desert and came into this series thinking (Hawaii’s) walks and strikeout numbers weren’t very good and they weren’t playing very good defense,” West Virginia coach Randy Mazey said. “Then they come out pounding the strike zone and playing good defense and they played really well this weekend.”
9
WEST VIRGINIA
2
HAWAII
KEY: The Rainbows give up runs in each of the first four innings against the Mountaineers.
NEXT: Hawaii vs. Michigan, 6:35 p.m., Thursday, Les Murakami Stadium
Hawaii had gotten six consecutive quality starts from its top three pitchers in the rotation, but is still looking for a fourth starter during nonconference play.
Senior Josh Pigg got his second shot at starting a game and managed to go just three innings. He limited the Mountaineers’ damage to only three runs and didn’t walk a batter, but gave up seven hits, including the first of Guerrini’s two homers that wowed a crowd of 1,351.
Guerrini, who also doubled in the game, put WVU up 2-0 when he crushed one over the wall in left-center. He added his second one in the eighth inning for an 8-2 lead.
“I don’t think I’ve ever done that,” Guerrini said of the two homers, giving him five in his career. “(Hawaii) actually came out and pitched really well against us so it was nice to split, especially in this situation.”
West Virginia scored in each of the first four innings. Hawaii cut the lead in half in the fifth but left runners on second and third when reliever Conner Dotson (2-0) struck out Eric Ramirez.
Dotson and two other relievers combined to hold Hawaii to two hits and no runs over the final 42⁄3 innings.
“We’ve got to do what we’ve been doing these first three nights for the last couple of weekends and do it in a Game 4,” Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “We’ve taken steps forward each week — they’re not small steps forward, they’re big steps forward — and we split a series, won two of the first three, against a team that is a regional team in my mind.”
UH is set up well for a three-game series, but in the two games Hawaii had to start someone other than Brendan Hornung, Kyle Von Ruden or Alex Hatch, the Rainbow Warriors have been outscored 27-2.
UH used four different pitchers Sunday with fairly good results.
Lawrence Chew allowed four runs in three innings with two walks and a strikeout, but most of the damage came when he tried to come out for his fourth inning of work.
Jimmy Galusky led off the seventh with a triple and Chew issued one of Hawaii’s five walks in the entire series to Kyle Davis. Hill then smacked a double to drive in two and eventually scored on a throwing error by Kekai Rios to make it 7-2.
“Chew gave us a chance and I thought he got a little bit tired, but we’ve just got to get his pitch count up,” Trapasso said. “Pigg has the tools. Scouts like him. He has the ability, but he just makes too many mistakes and I didn’t like the direction that game was going through the first three innings.”
Jacob Sheldon-Collins singled in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 12 games and Alan Baldwin singled in a run in the fifth inning. He scored on a Sheldon-Collins sacrifice fly that made it 4-2.
WVU freshman Tanner Campbell went 41⁄3 innings in his first start allowing two runs on four hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
“We’re coming together and we’ve got to keep our confidence up even after this loss,” said UH third baseman Johnny Weeks, who was 4-for-6 and reached base six times over the last two games. “We got down early and it’s tough to come back when you’re down early against these pitchers.”
Hawaii has now gone 10 straight series without a win against a Power Five opponent, but gets another opportunity starting Thursday when it hosts Michigan for the first of four games played in three days.
WEST VIRGINIA 9, HAWAII 2
MOUNTAINEERS |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
BB |
SO |
Davis 3b |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
Hill rf |
5 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
Austin 2b |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Casserly ph/dh |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Cramer 1b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Inman ph/1b |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Corso dh/2b |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Huth cf |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Guerrini c |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
Gray lf |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Galusky ss |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
TOTALS |
37 |
9 |
13 |
7 |
4 |
2 |
RAINBOW WARRIORS |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
BB |
SO |
LoCoco cf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Sheldon-Collins ss |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Ramirez 1b |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Fitchett rf |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Sawelson dh |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Weeks 3b |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Rojas 2b |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Lopez ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Baldwin lf |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Linebarger ph |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Rios c |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Noworyta c |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
TOTALS |
32 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
W. Virginia (7-3) |
111 |
100 |
311 |
— |
9 |
13 |
0 |
Hawaii (6-7) |
000 |
020 |
000 |
— |
2 |
6 |
4 |
E—Weeks, Baldwin, Rios, Mitchell. DP—West Virginia 1, Hawaii 2. LOB—West Virginia 6, Hawaii 6. 2B—Hill, Austin 2, Cramer, Guerrini, Sawelson. 3B—Hill, Galusky. HR—Guerrini 2. HBP—Rios. SH—Gray. SB—Gray.
WEST VIRGINIA |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Campbell |
4 1/3 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
Dotson (W, 2-0) |
2 2/3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
Hardy |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Smith |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
HAWAII |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Pigg (L, 0-2) |
3 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
Chew |
3 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
Friesen |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Mitchel |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Chew faced 3 batters in the 7th.
WP—Pigg, Chew, Friesen. HBP—by Campbell (Rios). BK—Campbell. Umpires—(Plate): Scott Higgins. (First): Rob Hansen. (Third): Eric Petersen. T—2:37. A—1,351.