University of Hawaii baseball back in first place after win at Fullerton

Dustin Demeter drove in four runs, including two on a 10th-inning triple, to vault Hawaii to a 6-4 baseball victory over Cal State Fullerton and into a first-place tie in the Big West.

The Rainbow Warriors rebounded from Friday’s loss to even this three-game series entering today’s finale at Fullerton’s Goodwin Field. The ’Bows improved to 21-14 overall and 7-4 in the Big West, tying surging UC Irvine. But the ’Bows own the head-to-head advantage over Irvine. CSF dropped to 18-19 and 5-3.

“It feels good to play well,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said in a telephone interview. “It feels good to pitch well. … You can’t say enough about the toughness and the belief this team has in each other. It was a pretty amazing game.”

Demeter’s two-run homer in the fourth broke a scoreless tie. But the Titans scored four runs in the fifth to seize the lead. That was all the scoring until the top of the ninth.

Demeter reached on a fielder’s choice and Ethan Lopez followed with a double down the left-field line. CSF’s closer, Brett Conine, then walked Eric Ramirez to fill the bases with one out. Chayce Ka‘aua was summoned to bat for Jacob Sniffin.

“You just have to trust Chayce because he’s been there before,” Trapasso said of the fifth-year senior.

Ka‘aua singled to center to score Demeter and Lopez to tie it at 4-all.

In the UH 10th, Adam Fogel singled to left, then advanced to second on Logan Pouelsen’s sacrifice. Kekai Rios, who was 4-for-4, was walked intentionally.

Then the left-swinging Demeter fouled off three pitches before hitting an opposite-field drive to left. The ball eluded left fielder Chris Prescott’s reach, as Fogel and Rios raced home, and Demeter trotted to third.

“He had the benefit of going deep in the count,” Trapasso said of Demeter’s at-bat. “He could see how they were pitching him. He was able to foul off a few sinkers away. The guy (Dillon Brown) continued to run the two-seam sinkers away from him. You go deep in the count, and the more pitches you see, that favors the hitter. He put a good swing on it.”

Demeter had struggled early in the season, but he is hitting .421 in 10 Big West games.

“Guys who have hit their whole life, guys who are natural hitters, they’re going to hit,” Trapasso said of Demeter. “His issue wasn’t anything other than pressing.”

Dylan Thomas escaped a jam in the ninth and pitched a scoreless 10th to improve to 2-1. Thomas replaced middle reliever Cade Smith, who allowed a one-out double in the ninth with the score tied at 4.

“The whole key for bringing in Dylan was real simple,” Trapasso said. “If we’re going to get left on the field in the bottom of the ninth, it’s going to be with our best pitcher on the mound. Once he got us out of it (in the ninth), I was going to stick it out the rest of the night with Dylan. He was going to stay in there, win or lose.”

Trapasso said Thomas would have been able to pitch up to four innings of relief. Because Thomas threw 17 pitches to five batters, he will be available for today’s game.

Trapasso also praised starting pitcher Neil Uskali, who lasted six innings. Uskali retired the first nine Titans, and gave up his first hit on his 38th pitch. Trapasso credited the Titans for producing four runs on four hits in the fifth.

“They really stayed on his pitches,” Trapasso said. “He threw a couple bad pitches, and they made him pay for it. And a couple good pitches, and they hit ‘em. You tip your cap.”