The University of Hawaii started a left-hander in a baseball game in which nothing went right on Monday evening.
Pacific pounded 16 hits against eight UH pitchers for a 10-1 rout at Klein Family Field in Stockton, Calif.
“I tip my hat to them,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said in a postgame phone interview. “We just got it handed to us by a team that was just on fire today.”
For the Rainbow Warriors, it was supposed to be a bridge game between Big West road series against UC Irvine this past weekend and UC Davis this coming weekend. Instead, the ’Bows were left to wonder why a starting pitcher continues to struggle and how their bats went silent two days after the program’s most productive road performance as a Big West member.
Dominic DeMiero suffered his fourth underwhelming outing in a row, exiting with a 3-0 deficit in the second inning after allowing six hits and a walk to the 11 batters he faced. In his past four starts, DeMiero has a 9.60 earned-run average and 2.27 WHIP. A promising opening (he struck out two of the first three Tigers) devolved into DeMiero’s briefest outing of the season (31 pitches).
Trapasso had planned to use several players in this nonconference game, but he was forced to summon every available reliever. Brody Hagel-Pitt and Matt Estes made their first appearances of the season, combining for a scoreless seventh inning. Dylan Thomas, the UH closer, who had not pitched since Thursday, worked a hitless eighth.
Kash Koltermann was the ’Bows’ most effective pitcher. He inherited a bases-loaded, no-out situation from DeMiero in the second inning. Koltermann got Jack Free to pop up to first baseman Eric Ramirez, then induced Lucas Halstead to ground into an inning-ending double play. Koltermann did not allow a run in 31⁄3 innings.
But Free still made an impact, smacking a two-run homer in the middle of the Tigers’ seven-run sixth. The inning started with Keaton Glover reaching on a bunt single and Kevin Sandri getting on base on a throwing error. Logan Pouelsen, who had been effective as a pitcher-hitter combo, did not retire any of the five batters he faced. He gave up five runs, with four earned, in the seventh inning.
On Saturday, the ’Bows beat UC Irvine, 14-2, their most runs and widest victory margin for a Big West road game. But the ’Bows were limited to four hits against four Pacific pitchers. The Tigers retired 14 batters in a row from the third inning through the eighth inning. The bottom third of the ’Bows’ lineup went a combined 0-for-11.
“I’m disappointed, obviously, in the way we pitched and the way we hit,” Trapasso said. “We followed our best game of the year with our worst.”
Pacific improved to 11-16.
The ’Bows, who are 16-10, open a three-game road series against UC Davis on Friday.
Trapasso has indicated Jackson Rees and Neil Uskali will start the first two games. Sunday’s UH starter has not been determined. Cade Smith, who has made three consecutive starts and leads UH with a 2.28 ERA, is a consideration to provide right-handed relief in the Davis series.
