Rainbow Warriors turn on the power to defeat Fresno State

The Hawaii baseball team flicked on the power switch in Saturday’s 8-5 road victory over Fresno State at Bob Bennett Stadium.

Six of the Rainbow Warriors’ nine hits went for extra bases, including four home runs — two by Ethan Lopez, and one each by Adam Fogel and Troy Kakugawa.

The ’Bows won for the second time in this three-game series between former Western Athletic Conference members. The ’Bows, who improved to 25-19, are members of the Big West; the Bulldogs (27-23) play in the Mountain West.

“I’ll tell you one thing: If anyone thinks winning a series in Fresno is easy, they know nothing about college baseball,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said in a telephone interview. “That game tonight was like (Friday) night’s. It was an absolute dog fight. It was really good college baseball.”

Brody Hagel-Pitt, a 6-foot-6, 260-pound right-hander, produced his second consecutive workmanlike outing for the short-staffed ’Bows. Hagel-Pitt pitched 51⁄3 innings, allowing single runs in each of the first three innings.

“He had three walks,” Trapasso said of Hagel-Pitt’s second career start, “yet he was commanding with his pitches. The walks weren’t from wildness. It was from him trying to be careful with some of their power guys.”

UH tried to counter Fresno left-hander Jaime Arias with seven right-swinging batters in the lineup. That strategy meant Kakugawa, who entered hitting .167 against left-handers, would start at second base in place of lefty-hitting Dustin Demeter.

Kakugawa smacked a home run to tie it at 1 in the second inning. It was his second homer of the season, but first to clear the fences.

Fogel and Lopez hit back-to-back solo homers to make it 3-all in the fourth.

In the sixth, Lopez singled to center, advanced to second on a wild pitch, went to third on Eric Ramirez’s groundout, and scored on Tiegen Jones’ second wild pitch of the inning.

Lopez’s fifth homer of the season extended UH’s lead to 5-3 in the eighth.

“It’s a ballpark where the runs are there for the taking,” Trapasso said. “It’s a good hitter’s ballpark. Our guys were able to get a couple balls in the air. When the ball’s in the air, with the wind blowing out, it has a chance to carry.”

The Bulldogs answered with two runs on three doubles to tie it at 5 in the eighth inning.

In the ninth, Dylan Vchulek hit a two-out liner that landed just in front of center fielder Zach Ashford. Vchulek went to second after Maaki Yamazaki drew a four-pitch walk. Johnny Weeks then pulled a drive that bounced over the wall in left field for a ground-rule double, scoring Vchulek with the go-ahead run. Yamazaki and Weeks then scored when third baseman JT Arruda fielded a ball but threw wildly to first.

Dylan Thomas, who had given up one of Fresno’s three doubles in the eighth, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to improve to 3-1.

With Neil Uskali and Dominic DeMiero still on the mend from arm soreness, freshman Cade Smith will start in today’s series finale. Trapasso said he hopes to also Logan Pouelsen, a two-way player who recently was cleared to pitch this weekend. Pouelsen can also play first base.

“We need Cade to give us five innings,” Trapasso said. “If you’re in the game through the first five innings, then you have a chance.”