University of Hawaii baseball team falls to Ohio State after Tyler Best misses third base

Ohio State held off Hawaii, 6-4, in a baseball game Thursday that ended with a misstep at Bill Davis Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

Trailing 6-3, the Rainbow Warriors placed runners at second and third with two outs in the top of the ninth inning. Daylen Calicdan then singled to center, with Maaki Yamazaki scoring from third and Tyler Best from second. But third-base umpire Peter Pedersen ruled that Best did not touch third base. Best was ruled out, his run was nullified, and the ’Bows suffered their fourth loss in a row.

“An umpire is not going to call that unless it’s clear-cut,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said. “Nothing you can do about that.”

The ’Bows amassed 10 hits and four walks against three OSU pitchers, including three hits in a two-run first. But they had only four hits after the third inning.

The Buckeyes answered with three in the bottom of the first to take the lead. This season, the Buckeyes are outscoring opponents 24-9 in the first inning.

“They came out swinging against JY,” Trapasso said of starting pitcher Jeremy Wu-Yelland, who allowed six hits, four walks and four earned runs in four innings. “He didn’t locate well. His stuff was good, but we spot them two runs and he gives them three by just not locating. He was challenging guys, but you have to give them credit. He settled down a little bit. But the damage was done.”

The ’Bows tied it at 3 in the third. Scotty Scott singled past shortstop Zach Dezenzo, advanced to second on Calicdan’s sacrifice, and scored on Alex Baeza’s opposite-field single to left.

But the Buckeyes regained the lead in the fourth. Dillon Dingler doubled to right and, two outs later, scored on Nick Erwin’s ground single.

The Buckeyes added two runs on well-placed hits in the eighth. Dingler parlayed a two-out pitch to the skinny of the bat into a bloop single. Brent Todys then sprayed a shot to the right-field corner for a triple and Dingler sprinted home with the Buckeyes’ fifth run. Nolan Clegg followed with a grounder to left to bring home Todys.

“The two-run eighth was just bad luck,” Trapasso said. “Jam-job single (by Dingler). Flare triple (by Todys) that got blown away from Best. And a rollover (by Clegg) in the 6 hole.”

Garrett Burhenn spaced eight hits in seven innings to improve to 4-1. During one stretch, Burhenn retired nine in a row — 12 in a row when counting Yamakazi being throw out at second trying to stretch a single into a double. Andrew Magno pitched out of a jam in the eighth after his predecessor, TJ Brock, issued back-to-back walks.

“The effort was there,” Trapasso said. “I thought we had really good at-bats. We just didn’t score (enough). We had the opportunity. … We’re not able to get anything across. … The name of the game is scoring and stopping the other team from scoring.”

A bright spot was UH left-hander Kash Koltermann’s four innings of relief. Koltermann retired the first 11 he faced before the Buckeyes’ two-out rally in the eighth.

“I thought Kash did a good job for us,” Trapasso said.

Li‘i Pontes will start for the ’Bows in today’s second game of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m.