UH baseball sends sellout crowd home disappointed with loss

The University of Hawaii baseball team packed the house.

Cal State Northridge unloaded its offense.

A sellout crowd of 2,653 at Les Murakami Stadium saw the visiting Matadors amass 16 hits for a 12-7 victory to even a three-game Big West series at a game apiece.

The Rainbow Warriors fell to 22-16 and 8-6 in the Big West, tied for second with UC Irvine and three games behind leader Cal State Fulleton in the loss column. By ending a seven-game losing streak, the Matadors improved to 18-24 and 6-8.

Center fielder Justin Toerner was CSUN’s momentum turner. Toerner, who was recruited as a pitcher, hit a two-run triple in the third inning, a grand slam in a six-run fifth, and an RBI single in the ninth. Toerner went 4-for-6.

Alvaro Rubalcaba hit a solo homer in the ninth. The Matadors have hit 56 homers in 42 games.

The ’Bows spent the entire night playing catch — and release. After the Matadors surged to a 3-0 lead in the third, the ’Bows added a run in the bottom of the inning and three in the fourth to go ahead, 4-3.

But the Matadors answered with six runs in a sixth inning in which they chased reliever Matt Richardson and battered his replacement, Brody Hagel-Pitt.

Johnny Weeks’ two-run double closed the ’Bows to 9-6 in the seventh. But Weeks and Adam Fogel, who reached on a bloop single, were stranded at third and second, respectively, when Cassius Hamm retired the next three hitters.

The Matadors extended their lead to 10-6 in the eighth when Albee Weiss doubled, went to third on a groundout, and trotted home on Kevin Riley’s sacrifice fly to left.

The ’Bows came away with only one run in the bottom of the eighth despite loading the bases with one out. Dustin Demeter, Dylan Vchulek and Maaki Yamazaki drew consecutive walks. Weeks’ sacrifice fly to right scored Demeter to cut the UH deficit to 10-7.

The ’Bows reloaded the bases when Fogel was struck by a pitch. But Kekai Rios flied out to right to end the threat.

It was a disappointing evening for the ’Bows, who received an attendance boost from spectators who watched the UH football team’s spring fling at neighboring T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.

UH’s winningest pitcher, Neil Uskali, was announced as the starter but he never made it to the mound. Cade Smith, a freshman who had been used in relief recently, started for the ’Bows.

Smith eased through the first two innings, thanks to a double play and three strikeouts. But in the third, Smith issued a leadoff walk to Rubalcaba and a walk to Brandon Bohning. Both were not on base long. Toerner smacked a triple to center to stake the Matadors to a 2-0 lead. Toerner then scored on Trevor Casanova’s sacrifice fly.

In the sixth, the Matadors tied it at 4 when Bohning was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Toerner fouled off two pitches before smacking a Hagel-Pitt pitch over the wall in right. It was the first grand slam by a UH opponent since 2010.